


Ace Combat 7: Clouded Skies

by AshedAshley



Category: Ace Combat
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Compliant, Explicit Language, Fighter Pilots, Friendship, Gen, Military, Non-Graphic Violence, Original Character(s), POV Third Person, Strangereal Universe (Ace Combat), Video Game: Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, War, Wordcount: Over 10.000
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 74,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27091918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshedAshley/pseuds/AshedAshley
Summary: Lieutenant Eva Kidd is a new pilot in the International Union Peacekeeping Force aboard the aircraft carrier Kestrel II. But as the Lighthouse War begins, she and her squadron must adapt to survive.
Kudos: 8





	1. Kestrel II

In the waters of the Spring Sea, northwest of the Twinkle Islands, a lone aircraft carrier sliced through the water. The ship’s name, Kestrel II, was painted in big white letters along her hull. The cutting-edge carrier had gotten its name from another aircraft carrier bearing the same name. Kestrel had seen plenty of action in its time, as it had served during the Belkan War and the Circum-Pacific War. Many years after it sank during the Circum-Pacific War, Osea built Kestrel II. A few short months after its completion, it shipped off to Usea as part of the International Union Peacekeeping Force (IUPF). Given its namesake, many had high hopes that the new aircraft carrier would do great things. Ironically, Kestrel II had seen little to no action at all, which may have been because, at least in part, of the fact that many of Kestrel II’s crewmen were mostly inexperienced, including the pilots of the fighters aboard the ship.

The sleeping quarters in Kestrel II were mostly quiet except for the waves bashing against the hull and a tacking sound coming from one of the rooms. Hunched over a small metal desk in front of a small laptop, a young woman sat in a steel chair that accompanied the desk. The woman had long, ginger hair tied back into a ponytail. Sunlight from the window above the desk lit up the small room and made her emerald green eyes sparkle a bit. The woman wore a green flight suit, but the top had been unzipped with the arms tied around her waist, revealing a white tank top. The laptop that the woman had in front of her was displaying a text document. At the top, there was a title centered in a large font and a byline underneath. 

The King of the Skies

By Eva Kidd

She still wasn’t 100% decided on the title. If anything, the more she read it, the more she cringed on the inside, but Eva felt so proud of herself when she first came up with it. The document she was typing was a novel that she had been writing in her spare time, which wasn’t in short supply, for her at least. So far, her book was about a squadron of fighter pilots in a war that would change the course of history. Eva sighed, resting her head on her hand as she looked out the window. She envied these characters that she had created, which was why they existed in the first place when she thought about it. She had made some decent progress, having written 12 chapters already, but Eva just felt stuck at that point. A classic case of writer’s block. She sighed and looked down at the corner of the screen. The date read _5/10/19_ , which caused Eva to crack a small, optimistic smile. 

‘ _Just a few more weeks, and we’re back on land_ ,’ she thought to herself, eagerly awaiting the day she could get off of this ship.

Eva was about to try and continue writing, but her stomach intervened as it growled at her. She looked back at the time on her laptop. Luckily for her, it was just about lunchtime. She shut her laptop off and gently slid it into her bag before heaving the door to her room open and walking down the hallway after shutting it again.

Kestrel II’s mess hall was surprisingly large, despite it being on a ship. It didn’t have any windows, but the lights hanging from the ceiling more than made up for the lack of natural light. Eva looked down at the food, ham and cheese sandwich, and a surprisingly decent one at that. She wasn’t a picky eater, but that just allowed her to appreciate good food.

“Hey, Diamond! Over here!” Eva was yanked from her thoughts at the sudden mention of her TAC name. 

She turned her head toward the source of the voice to see a skinnier man with short blonde hair and brown eyes waving at her and gesturing toward the table that only he occupied. Eva rolled her eyes with a smirk as she sat down across from him.

“Hey, Lucky,” she said, addressing him by his own TAC name. “What’s up?”

Lucky had earned his nickname. He wasn’t a bad pilot by any means, but he had his fair share of lucky calls in flight school. Missile Magnet also would have been an accurate nickname for him from the way he described it. However, it was a bit lengthy for a TAC name.

“Not much,” Lucky finally answered. “I _might’ve_ skipped breakfast, so I’ve been practically dying for lunch to roll around.” He nodded to his empty plate, save for a few crumbs from the bread.

Eva shot him a glare, albeit with a massive grin on her face. “Again? That’s like, what- the third time this week?” She asked before taking a bite out of her sandwich.

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucky said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I’m just not that hungry in the mornings.” Eva had heard this same excuse about a dozen times.

“Y’know you realize that you wouldn’t feel as hungry when lunch rolled around if you just had something to eat for breakfast, right?” she asked sarcastically, the smirk from before still present on her face.

Lucky shrugged. “I just don’t like what they have for breakfast most of the time,” Lucky protested. “And don’t even start with the whole ‘expand your palette’ crap.” He tried his best to feign annoyance, but he wasn’t very good at it. “Hey, have you seen Magic?” he asked, trying to change the subject.

Eva shrugged. “Not sure. She hasn’t been back to our room, at least. That’s all I know,” she answered.

Magic was Eva’s roommate. Although several other female crew members were aboard Kestrel II, Magic was the only other pilot who was a girl. She had gotten her nickname from her ability to do a myriad of card tricks, several of which were quite impressive. 

“Guess she’s probably still on patrol with the others then,” Lucky speculated.

Eva’s good mood instantly vanished at the mention of a patrol. She envied Magic and everyone else in her squadron, including Lucky. In the two weeks since they departed Usea in Kestrel II, Eva had yet to go up into the air once. Despite her best efforts, however, she still had yet to discern why she hasn’t flown.

Lucky picked up on Eva’s change in mood and gave her a sympathetic look. “Hey, I’m sure there’s gotta be some reason you’re not flying, and if there isn’t, you’ll probably be going up soon,” he said, trying to cheer her up.

I don’t know. I’m gonna talk to Vortex once they all get back,” she said. “Honestly, I should’ve done that ages ago.”

“Well, I was just about to go topside to get some fresh air. If you wanted to come with me, we could wait for the others to get back together,” Lucky offered as he stood up.

It was moments like this that made Eva appreciate Lucky. It was like he was incapable of showing negative emotions, and more often than not, his positivity was very contagious. At times it was kind of annoying, but not right now.

“I suppose some fresh air would do some good,” she admitted after finishing the last of her sandwich. “Alright, let’s go.” She stood up. Together, the two of them made their way out of the mess hall and toward the flight deck.

As they made the two made their way through the winding hallways and up the steep staircases, Eva untied her flight suit’s arms and slid her hands through them so she could zip it back up. No matter how warm it was outside, going onto the flight deck was almost always cold. Lucky heaved the metal door open, and sunlight poured into Eva’s eyes, causing her to raise her hand to shield her eyes instinctively until they adjusted. Just as she predicted, a chilly breeze blew through the air as they stepped out, tugging at Eva’s ponytail. Despite the wind, however, the weather wasn’t too bad. The sun was out, and there weren’t many clouds in the sky. At first, there wasn’t a lot of activity on the flight deck, but people suddenly started running around. All of them were performing different tasks. Eva looked to her left and saw what had changed. Four F/A-18 fighter jets had begun their approach. Their landing gear was down as well as the tailhook. One by one, they all gracefully touched down on the carrier, coming to a complete stop within seconds. Eva could tell which plane was being flown by who as she looked at each pilot’s small emblem on the tail of their aircraft.

The first plane to land had a red spade with a black outline on it, Magic’s emblem. The next two had a lightning bolt and a quill, which belonged to Charger and Poet, respectively, the other two pilots in Eva’s squadron. Finally, the last one to land had a cyclone emblem, Vortex, their squadron leader. In the same order that they landed in, the pilots all got out of their planes. Magic took off her helmet as soon as she came down, revealing her short black hair that was barely above her shoulders as she rested her helmet in her armpit. Charger, with this shaved brown hair, got out and waited for Poet to do the same. Once Poet had his helmet off, he undid his ponytail, allowing his dirty blonde hair to fall to his shoulders. Together, the two pilots followed Magic as she made her way over to Eva and Lucky, Charger gave Poet a friendly punch on the shoulder, and the two laughed, probably about some joke Eva was too far away to hear. Last but not least, Vortex came down from his plane. He took off his helmet and scratched at his crew cut, brown hair.

Eva took a deep breath. All of a sudden, she felt incredibly nervous. Suddenly, Lucky gave her a reassuring nudge on the shoulder and a smile, which instilled some confidence in her. She nodded to Lucky and made her way over to lucky, giving the other three pilots a friendly wave as they passed each other. 

Eva cleared her throat. “Hi, Vortex,” she said, trying to make herself sound as confident as possible.

Vortex looked over from what he was doing and smiled at her. “Hey, Diamond, what’s up?” he asked.

Eva’s heart pounded. She was incredibly nervous, but she had to do this. “Can I tell you something?”

Vortex’s smile lessened a bit after hearing the seriousness in her tone. “Sure.” The two of them walked over away from his plane and over to the flight deck’s side.

“I want to fly,” she finally told him. “I’ve been more than patient.”

Vortex sighed. Something in the way his expression changed made Eva feel like he knew this was coming. “Diamond…” his voice trailed off as he tried to look for the right words to say. “You’re just a kid.”

“I’m not ‘just a kid,’ I’m 22 years old!” Eva protested, raising her voice slightly, although nobody else seemed to be watching, except for the other pilots, who were too far away to hear. “Besides, Lucky’s only a year older than me, and you let him fly,” she added.

Vortex was caught off guard by Eva’s change in tone. “A year can make a lot of difference. You get a lot of experience in that time,” he defended himself.

“But how am I supposed to get experience if you don’t let me fly?” Eva asked rhetorically.

Vortex fumbled over his words, trying to figure out what he wanted to say. It took him a moment to realize what he needed to say. He let out a heavy sigh. He had hoped that he wouldn’t have to remember the memories currently in his mind, but he had no choice. “Let me tell you something,” he began, avoiding eye contact with Eva. “It was a few years ago, and I had just become a squadron leader. My wingman was a lot like you. She was young and a bit impulsive at times, but you could tell her heart was in the right place, but above all that she was a great pilot, probably even better than me.”

Eva looked up at Vortex and saw him wipe away a tear with his sleeve. She didn’t know about any of this. “What uh… what happened to her?” She asked hesitantly.

Vortex took a deep, albeit shaky, breath. Despite all the time that had passed, it still wasn’t any easier talking about it. “Fate played a cruel joke,” he answered. “There were four of us on patrol over a mountain range. Everything had been going fine until suddenly, one of her engines failed out of nowhere. She tried to recover, and after that proved too difficult, she tried to eject, but…” his voice trailed off as he wiped more tears away from his face. “But it was too late,” he finally managed to finish.

Eva was at a loss for words. She had thought about how this would’ve gone before she walked up to him, but this wasn’t what she expected. “Vortex I-” Eva didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry,” was all she could say.

“We had been with each other since flight school. She was like a sister to me, so it was only right that I carried on in her name. That way, I knew that she would always be flying alongside me.” Vortex looked back at his plane, being taxied back into the hangar.

“You changed your TAC name to hers?” Eva asked, tilting her head to one side.

Vortex nodded. “Yeah, she was uh… she was really somethin’.” He sighed. “When you first got assigned to my squadron, I didn’t notice much, but the more I got to know you, the more you reminded me of her, and I guess I just felt… scared,” Vortex admitted. “Scared that I would lose you the same way I lost her.” He looked over to Eva. “But I guess I can’t hold you back forever, huh?” he asked, a small smile appearing on his face.

Eva’s eyes lit up. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” she asked excitedly.

Vortex chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, you can go up on patrol tomorrow.”

At that moment, Eva felt a rush of so many positive emotions. She reached out and hugged Vortex’s arm. “Thank you so much, Vortex, I won’t let you down!”

“Just promise me one thing, ok?” He asked her, the serious look on his face returning.

Eva nodded. “Name it.”

Vortex sighed. “Promise me you’ll be careful,” he told her.

“I will, I’ll be careful,” Eva promised.


	2. The First Sortie

Eva had barely slept. The excitement she was feeling kept her awake for hours until she finally managed to fall asleep. As the early morning sunlight poured into the window, Eva sat up, making sure not to hit her head on the bunk bed above her as she had done numerous other times. She stretched her arms out until she heard a series of satisfying pops and stood up. Magic seemed to be just waking up too as Eva heard her stirring above her. Eva didn’t say anything but instead went to go put on her flight suit.

“So, you excited?” Magic drowsily asked as she climbed down from her bed.

Eva scoffed. “As if you even need to ask. I’ve been waiting for this moment for weeks,” she replied.

As she was getting ready, she noticed her laptop sticking out from the bag under her bed. ‘ _Maybe this’ll help me get some ideas to write about,_ ’ she thought. A bit of inspiration wouldn’t hurt, but hopefully, she wouldn’t have as much free time on her hands after today. A part of Eva was almost regretful, in a way, that she wouldn’t have as much time to work on her novel, but she would choose flying before writing in a heartbeat. Besides, her story wasn’t going anywhere.

“Come on, let’s go meet the others at the mess hall,” Magic said as she zipped her flight suit up.

By the time Eva and Magic arrived at the mess hall, the other four had already found a table, indicating their presence with a wave. Eva wasn’t feeling particularly hungry that morning, so all she had was a piece of buttered toast. 

“What is that?” Lucky asked, looking at her toast as she sat down next to him. “You lecture me about breakfast, and all you eat is that?”

Eva grinned. “At least I’m eating something,” she said, giving him a friendly nudge on the shoulder. “I notice you don’t have anything at all.” Eva gestured to the bare spot on the table in front of Lucky.

“Yeah, but how do you know that I didn’t just eat what I had already? You don’t know how long I’ve been here,” Lucky argued.

“I know because I’ve been with you since we left our room,” Poet chimed in, throwing his bunkmate under the bus.

Everyone laughed, including Lucky. He was good at making jokes at his own expense. It was then that Eva realized how long it had been since all six of them were together. They had all been busy doing something, so they didn’t have time more often than not. It felt nice to be with all of them. They were fun to be around.

“So uhh… who all is going out today?” Eva asked. She was unable to hold in her excitement.

“Myself, Charger, Lucky, and you,” Vortex answered. “We’re leaving in just a few minutes, so be ready.”

“So, you’re finally letting Diamond fly, huh?” Poet asked with a grin.

Vortex exchanged a look with Eva. “Yeah, I figured it was time I let her get out there,” he said, sighing.

“Ah, you worry too much, Vortex, she’ll do fine,” Magic added.

Vortex nodded. “I know she will,” he said, glancing over at Eva. “Y’know what, Diamond? After we’re back, we’ll do something fun at dinner. A celebration for your first sortie, Nexus Squadron style.”

Eva swallowed the last bite of her toast. “Sounds fun.” She stood up. “So, do you think we should get going?”

Vortex laughed, amused by her excitement. “Settle down there, Diamond. We’ve still got a few minutes. Besides, I still need to tell you all that we’re doing an exercise with Meteor Squadron tomorrow.”

Meteor Squadron was the other fighter squadron aboard Kestrel II. Eva didn’t know them that well, nor did she see them much, but she heard they were all remarkable pilots.

“What kind of exercise?” Magic asked. Eva was about to ask the same question.

“We’re going up against them in a mock dogfight. We’ll be going up at 1300 hours, so right after lunch. It’s gonna be all six of us against all six of them,” Vortex told them.

Eva just about squealed with excitement. Dogfighting was one of her strengths. If anything, she considered herself reasonably good at it. Although she probably wouldn’t last long against Meteor Squadron, it’d be nice to get some experience.

Vortex stood up. “Alright, you three, I think it’s time we got ready to head out.” He looked over to Magic and Poet. “Don’t sink the ship while we’re gone,” he said with a smirk.

“I can’t make you any promises,” Poet replied.

Vortex laughed as he led Charger, Lucky, and Eva out of the mess hall.

The first stop the four pilots made was to grab their flight gear. As Eva slipped it on over herself, she realized that it was a lot heavier than she remembered. She tucked her helmet under her armpit, and they continued to the hangar. Eva’s heartbeat got faster as they stepped in. After how long it had been since she had flown, it felt surreal in a strange way. She scanned over the planes in the hangar and finally found hers, the one with a light blue crystal emblem on it. She slipped her helmet on as she sat down, and the canopy closed over her. Small carts hooked up to their planes and backed them onto the elevator— First Vortex and Charger, and then Lucky and Eva. By the time Eva and Lucky made it up, Vortex and Charger were just taking off. Eva flicked on the engines.

“Diamond, Lucky, this is the Control Tower. Prepare for takeoff.”

Eva put her oxygen mask on and took a deep breath. She looked over to her left at Lucky’s plane and the four-leaf clover emblem on his tail. Lucky was doing the same thing. He caught her eyes and gave her a thumbs up.

“Lucky, your callsign for this sortie is Nexus 3. Diamond, yours is Nexus 4. Verify and read back, over,” the tower told them.

“Lucky confirmed Nexus 3,” he replied.

“This is Diamond. Callsign is Nexus 4, roger.”

“All systems are normal, take off when ready.”

Eva’s heart pounded as the thrust on her plane increased. Out of nowhere, the catapult shot her forward, and she was airborne before she knew it. She retracted the landing gear and gripped the control stick firmly.

“Good to see you two in the sky, now form up on me. Let’s get this patrol started,” Vortex told them.

“Oh man, this is great. I feel like there’s nothing that can stop me!” Eva’s voice was full of energy. She was ready to burst with excitement, so she did a little barrel roll to let some of it out.

“Save some of that energy, Diamond. We’ve got a patrol to do,” Vortex said lightheartedly.

“Right, sorry, Vortex.” She quietly accelerated next to Lucky until they slipped behind Vortex and Charger.

“Hey, you can’t deny the kid has spirit at least,” Charger said with a laugh.

Eva rolled her eyes underneath her helmet. “Still not a kid, Charger, and it’s not like I’m gonna get younger anytime soon.”

“Nexus Squadron, this is the Control Tower. You’ve passed through waypoint one. Continue on the route and keep an eye on those radars,” Tower told them.

“Roger that Tower, we’ll let you know if we see anything,” Vortex replied.

The Control Tower was the closest thing they had to an AWACS, which was a bit redundant because they were patrolling for the carrier in the first place. For the most part, they were mostly there to issue out orders, which was just fine as Eva was concerned.

“Well, Diamond, I hope you’re ready for flying in a straight line and then turning once every couple of minutes,” Lucky said sarcastically.

“Hey, flying is flying, and when you’ve been out of the sky for as long as I was, you take every second you can get.” Eva looked down at her radar, checking to see if anything new had popped up, but frowned as it showed nothing but their four aircraft. 

As they carried onward, it turned out that Lucky was right. The patrol was essentially just them flying in a circle around the carrier. Despite that, Eva still didn’t mind. If anything, as they made their way to land, Eva was just as giddy as when she went up. Besides, now Eva was able to look forward to dogfighting with Meteor Squadron. By now, everyone else had already landed, and now it was her turn. She took a steadying breath as she lined herself up with the flight deck. She lowered the landing gear and tailhook on her plane and started reducing her speed.

“Your approach is looking good, Diamond. Continue on your current course,” Tower told her.

Eva angled her plane upward ever so slightly as she touched down. She felt herself get thrown against the harness on her seat as the plane suddenly stopped. Eva let out a sigh of relief, and she switched the engines off.

“Thatta’ girl, Diamond,” Vortex said in a way that she could just tell he had a mile-wide grin on his face. “You did well out there. I know it wasn’t all that glamorous-”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Eva quickly said to reassure him. She didn’t want him to think she was disappointed. “I enjoyed it.” She lowered her oxygen mask and took off her helmet as she got out of the plane and went to go meet up with the others.

Despite how loud and cramped the mess hall was at dinner, the pilots of Nexus Squadron were still able to enjoy each others’ company, whether it was laughing at some stupid thing Charger was doing or groaning at a terrible joke that Lucky made. Poet was setting up some long-winded joke that was sure to make water come out of Charger’s nose, and Magic was trying to teach some card tricks to Lucky, who couldn’t even shuffle the deck right. Eva was giggling as she watched Lucky struggle when she saw Vortex coming back to their table, and he had two others with him. They were wearing flight suits, so they had to be pilots. 

“Hey everyone, I brought back some friends,” Vortex, nodding to the two he had brought back. “This is Domino and Torch. Domino here is Meteor Squadron’s leader, and Torch is his wingman.”

Domino, the shorter of the two with messy black hair and blue eyes, nodded and gave everyone at the table a small wave. “Good to meet you all. Vortex has told us a lot about you guys.” He smirked and gave Vortex a nudge on the shoulder. “When he’s not putting on his ‘tough guy squadron leader’ act in front of you guys, he’s quite the sap y’know.”

Vortex rubbed the part of his shoulder that Domino nudged. “Ah, he’s just trying to make you feel better since he knows you’re all hopeless,” he said sarcastically, the grin on his face quite obviously showing that he didn’t mean a word of it.

“It’s good to meet you guys,” Torch chimed in. “It’s gonna be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.”

“Well, you know, we’re all friends here, so no hard feelings when we eventually come out on top,” Charger said with a wink.

Domino laughed. “Ten bucks says you do something stupid and get knocked out first.” From the way the two interacted with each other, it seemed as though they had some history together. However, Eva wasn’t quite sure as to what.

“Well…” Magic said as she stood up and stretched her arms. “I think I’m gonna turn in early, or else I might just faceplant on the table.”

Eva yawned. “Yeah, I think I’ll join you. Busy day tomorrow, after all.” She looked back at the others, waving a quick goodbye before the two headed off to their room.


	3. Meteor Squadron

Eva took a seat in the briefing room between Lucky and Magic. The place wasn’t all that special. It was just a small room with a large screen in the front and chairs on either side of the room, with a single aisle down the middle. Nexus Squadron was sitting in the front row of chairs on one side of the room, and Meteor Squadron was seated at the row across the aisle. After a few minutes of unusually awkward silence, the door behind them opened, and the officer running the exercise, Captain Waller, walked up to the front of the room.

“Good to see you’re all here. Now let’s get this show on the road,” Waller said in a neutral tone. “You know why you’re here: a standard training exercise. You’ll all go up and fly in opposite directions before turning around and meeting head-on. You’ll be going up without missiles, just in case. Each squadron will be on separate radio channels to communicate with each other, but I’ll be speaking with all of you on our regular open channel. To ‘shoot down’ the enemy, you’ll need to maintain radar lock on your target’s aircraft for five seconds. After that, I’ll announce it over the radio, and they’ll land on the carrier.” He powered up the screen and pulled up two lists. “Your formations are the standard ones listed here.” 

Two columns appeared on the screen. One was titled Nexus Squadron, and the other was titled Meteor Squadron. Eva’s eyes went down the list of Nexus Squadron: Vortex, Charger, Poet, Magic, Lucky, and Diamond. 

“Now, let’s get you all up in the air,” Waller finally said. 

All of the pilots stood up and started making their way to the hangar.

As Eva walked alongside the others, she felt the same giddy feeling that she did when she went up the day before. After all this time she had waited, and all the effort she had put in, she was finally going to dogfight. It had been her dream since she first went to flight school. Even if it wasn’t an actual dogfight, Eva was still very excited. Her mind raced around with so many different thoughts, although none stayed in her brain’s forefront for very long. She put on her flight gear, and this time, she didn’t even feel much of a difference in weight. Lucky noticed her inherent eagerness and let out a small chuckle, and Eva couldn’t help but laugh along with him. To her, everything about his laugh just made it contagious. Whether it was how it sounded or the face that he made when he laughed, it was like the stars had aligned to create the perfect laugh. As both squadrons arrived at the hangars, Domino looked over at Vortex with a smirk on his face and did a sarcastic bow.

“Please, after you, sir,” he said in an attempt at a posh accent.

Vortex returned the bow and stepped into the hangar. “Why, thank you, sir,” he said in an equally terrible posh accent.

Just like before, they went up in groups of two, with Eva and Lucky being last.

“Lucky your callsign is Nexus 5, Diamond yours is Nexus 6,” Waller said over the radio.

“Nexus 5, wilco,” Lucky replied.

“Nexus 6, roger that,” Eva said before slipping on her oxygen mask.

They went through some last-second flight checks and took off into the skies.

As Eva picked up speed and altitude, she felt the same exhilaration as before. It was a feeling that she would never forget. As she and Lucky slid into formation behind Magic and Poet, Eva realized that this was the first time that all six of them were finally flying together. It felt nice. They continued flying straight out, away from the carrier until they received word from Waller.

“Nexus Squadron, Meteor Squadron is airborne. You’re free to engage,” he told them.

“Roger that,” Vortex replied. “Alright, let’s go get ‘em.” He turned 180 degrees, and everyone else followed close behind as they made their way back toward the carrier.

Eva looked down at her radar and saw six blips heading straight for them. “So what’s the plan, sir?” she asked Vortex.

“Charger, you’re gonna hit ‘em head-on, and I’ll cover you. Our job is to try and scatter them as much as possible, which is where the rest of you come in and start to pick them off,” Vortex said in a clear and concise tone. It was no wonder he was the squadron leader.

“Man, you just know how to make my day don’t you?” Charger said, laughing.

The dogfight commenced right above the carrier, and they all went to work. Charger sped up and started going after one of the other pilots, while Vortex tried to get the fighter off Charger’s tail. Three of the other Meteor Squadron pilots split off and started engaging the others. Eva pitched her nose almost straight up to avoid their lock.

“Diamond, I’ve got two on my tail. I need a little help here!” Lucky called out.

“Hang on, Lucky. I’m on my way.” Eva rolled her plane upside down in one fluid motion and pulled back on the stick until she had completely turned around. She moved right side up again and made her way towards Lucky.

“Vortex, they have a lock on me, where are you?” Charger asked in an irritated tone.

“Just try to shake him off, I’ve got my hands full,” Vortex replied as he tried to outmaneuver one of the other fighters behind him.

“Meteor 5 downed by Nexus 2,” Waller informed everyone. “And, Nexus 2 has been downed by Meteor 2.”

“Hold on, Magic. I’m locking on to the guy on your tail. Just try to get him off you.” Poet said, trailing behind one of Meteor Squadron’s fighters. Suddenly, the plane pulled its nose straight up, dropping its speed, and Poet flew right past him. “What the hell? How did he do that? He’s got a lock on me!”

“Nexus 3 has been downed by Meteor 1,” Waller announced.

Eva saw the maneuver out of the corner of her eye. It was fairly impressive, but for the most part, she was too busy trying to get the two fighters off of Lucky’s tail. Finally, she got within range, and a beeping sounded off in her plane. Eva counted down to herself, “five, four, three-” The other plane made a sharp turn that broke her lock. She took a deep breath and followed suit, quickly regaining her lock. “Five, four, three, two, one!”

“Meteor 3 downed by Nexus 6,” Waller’s confirmation made Eva practically glow with pride.

“Nice job, Diamond!” Lucky praised her. “Now, help get this last guy off my tail.”

She increased her speed and tried to get in range of the other plane. Meanwhile, Vortex was chasing a target of his own. He finally had them right where he wanted them and got a lock.

“Nexus 1 has downed Meteor 2,” Waller said. “And Nexus 5 has been downed by Meteor 4.”

“Shit, sorry, Lucky. He was a little too slippery, but I’ll get him for you,” Eva said, trying to reassure him.

“Ah, you did the best you could. Don’t worry about it,” Lucky replied.

Eva quickly glanced down at her radar and saw another fighter headed her way. “Magic, I’ve got one headed my way. Wanna take him out for me?” she asked.

“On it,” Magic replied. “I was just about to try and get him anyways.” She made a hard left and tried to intercept the fighter.

Eva took a deep breath and focused on the one she was chasing down. Her radar lock’s beeping briefly went on and off several times as the other pilot broke her lock. Suddenly, she heard an alert in her cockpit. She had someone locking onto her. She accelerated forward, trying to get out of range of her pursuer and get close to her target, but Eva’s alert quickly shut off.

“Meteor 6 downed by Nexus 4,” Waller announced.

“Thanks, Magic!” Eva said, accelerating just a tad more. “And now I’ve got this one.” The beeping of her radar lock stayed on this time, and she counted down again. “Five, four, three, two, one!”

“Nexus 6 has downed Meteor 4.”

“Alright! Just one more and we win!” Magic chirped. However, their small victory was short-lived.

“Magic, you’ve got one headed your way, break!” Vortex warned her. Magic tried to outmaneuver the incoming fighter, but it was too late.

“Nexus 4 has been downed by Meteor 1,” Waller said.

The plane started making its way toward Eva, who went straight up into the sky.

“Keep calm now, Diamond. There’s two of us and one of him. We’ve just gotta- ah shit!” Vortex’s words were cut short. It turned out, as Eva went up, the fighter turned toward Vortex and got behind him with a tight loop around.

“Meteor 1 has downed Nexus 1.”

“Damn, it’s all up to me, I guess,” Eva said, a hint of nervousness in her voice. She looked at her radar and turned toward the last signal that wasn’t hers. “Let’s see what you’ve got, Domino.”

She came up below him and got a lock. “Five, four-” He quickly pitched upward and looped around behind her. Eva tried to outmaneuver him and twist around to get behind him, but he matched every move she made. Finally, he started locking onto her. She had an idea that she wasn’t sure would work, but at this point, she had no other options. She pitched her nose straight up, and her speed dropped. This time, Domino was the one to go right past her. She quickly lowered her plane and locked onto him. “Five, four, three, two, one!”

“Nexus 6 has downed Meteor 1.” Even Waller sounded both surprised and impressed. “That concludes the exercise. Nexus 6, Meteor 1, you’re cleared to land.”

As soon as Eva had her helmet off, everyone ran up to her. Vortex laughed as the others hoisted her up. Eva thought it was a bit gratuitous, but she didn’t say anything. If anything, it felt a bit surreal to her. A few days ago, she hadn’t even flown once, and now here she was being treated like she had just won a war. It felt nice more than anything. After a few seconds, she jumped down.

“That was amazing, Diamond! How’d you do that?” Lucky’s eyes were glowing as he spoke. He looked reminiscent of a child looking up to their idol.

“I just saw Domino do it earlier. I- I didn’t really think about it, I just did it,” she tried to explain. She still didn’t feel like she was translating the thoughts in her mind into words very well.

Domino approached the group and stood next to Vortex. “That was some impressive flying out there,” he told Eva. He looked over at Vortex and gave him a nudge on the shoulder. “It looks like you’ve got some good pilots with you.”

“Well, you’re not so bad yourself,” Poet said. 

“Yeah, he’s right. You’re all pretty good pilots. We’d fly with you and your boys anytime,” Vortex added with a smile.

Domino nodded and turned his gaze back to Eva. “So, how’d you learn to do that?” he asked.

“Well, actually, I learned it from you,” she admitted.

Domino’s face turned to one of intrigue. “Really? What do you mean?”

Eva felt her face getting red. She wasn’t used to being the center of attention. At least, not among people she didn’t know that well. “I uhh saw you use the same move on Poet earlier.”

“That’s amazing,” Domino said, looking impressed. “Attention to detail like that is important as a pilot, so is adapting to the situation like you did.”

“Yeah, you did pretty well out there, Diamond,” Vortex praised her. “Let’s go see if Waller needs anything else from us, and after that, we can go grab some food.”


	4. Operation Periscope

Eva’s heart was pounding. Not out of excitement or exhilaration like in the past week, but out of fear and anxiety. Waller had called all of the pilots to an urgent briefing, and Eva could tell it was critical by the tone that he spoke in. However, he had yet to arrive at the briefing room.

Eva looked over at Magic, who was sitting next to her. “What do you think this is about?” she asked.

Magic shook her head. “Honestly, I have no idea. It could be anything.”

“Whatever it is, we can handle it,” Vortex cut in. “So try not to worry too much. You always want to go into the sky with a clear head.” He cracked a faint smile. “Besides, if we couldn’t handle it, then Waller wouldn’t be briefing us for a mission, would he?”

Eva nodded. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” She had to admit; Vortex was good at his job. She couldn’t imagine having to lead a squadron of six pilots.

Suddenly, the door behind them opened, and Captain Waller stepped into the room. He quickly walked down the aisle between Nexus Squadron and Meteor Squadron and went over to the wall to dim the lights. Three high-pitched beeps sounded off on the screen as Waller logged into the terminal

“Alright, everyone’s here? Let’s get this started,” Waller said, looking around the room. The screen displayed a map of Usea and zoomed in on a small peninsula in the southeast. “Moments ago, the radar site west of Fort Grays Island went silent after unidentified aircraft approached the area, leading us to believe they attacked it. If this is true, then that means the Usean Ceasefire Agreement has been broken for the first time in over a decade.” The area marked on the map as the radar facility suddenly turned red, and the display zoomed out to the full map of Usea. “We’ve also lost communication with our garrison at Anchorhead Bay, and the IUPF airfield to the northeast of Farbanti.” The locations Waller just mentioned turned red as well. “This is _not_ a drill,” Waller said. “Both squadrons will sortie and investigate the two silent positions in our area. Meteor Squadron will investigate Anchorhead Bay, and Nexus Squadron will investigate the airfield.” The screen showed two blue arrows, and they split off to move toward the red zones. “We don’t know what’s going on, so I must emphasize the rules of engagement. Under no circumstances are you to fire unless fired upon, am I understood?”

There was a small chorus of “sir, yes, sir”s.

Suddenly, a shaft of light poured into the room as the door flew open. A young officer stood at the doorway. “Sir! We just received word. Fort Grays is under attack! Bombers are inbound, and the base is scrambling fighters.”

Waller growled. “Shit!” He turned his attention back to the pilots. “All pilots, get into the air ASAP. Assume aircraft at your objectives are hostile, but that doesn’t change a thing. Do not fire unless fired upon.”

All twelve pilots stood up and saluted the captain before leaving the room in two-column lines.

Out of all the things Eva expected the briefing to be about, a war’s possible start was not one of them. Doubt flooded her find. What if she did something to set everything off? What if she or any of the others died? Eva shook her head to herself. She simply couldn’t allow that to happen. Eva smiled a bit as she looked at her friends ahead of her. They were her best friends, and there was nothing that she wouldn’t do for them. But at the same time, she wondered if that would be enough. None of them had any idea what they were about to do. Eva shuddered at the thought that this could be one of her last moments in life.

“Alright, listen, everyone,” Vortex started. “This is some serious shit. A lot could happen, and a lot could go wrong.”

“You worry too much, Vortex, we’ll be just fine,” Charger said with a smile. He clearly wasn’t as worried as Vortex or Eva were.

“It’s my job to worry,” Vortex said bluntly. “You guys are my responsibility. All I’m saying is don’t do anything stupid, and stay close to me.”

Everyone quickly got into the air, and for a while, Nexus Squadron and Meteor Squadron flew together in the same northeasterly direction. Before long, Meteor Squadron split off and headed east.

“Good luck, and be careful out there,” Domino said.

“And you as well, keep your heads down,” Vortex replied.

For the rest of the flight, there was an awkward silence that filled the air. The only thing Eva heard was the roar of her engines, which was muffled by the cockpit. She was tempted to break the silence and clear the air, but she wasn’t sure what to say, and she presumed the others were thinking the same thing. Sure, she could talk about the mission, but that would probably end up making her more nervous than she already was. She thought back to Vortex’s advice at the briefing about going into the sky with a clear head.

Nexus Squadron made landfall between Dennis and Farbanti, as they chose to go around Erusea’s capital. If they were going to war with them, that was the last place any Osean pilot would want to be. They were still several kilometers north of the airfield when suddenly, Eva was cut from her thoughts by a beeping in her plane. She looked down to see that it was her radar causing the disturbance. Two squadrons of fighter jets appeared in the north, and they were heading right for them.

“Vortex, do you see that?” Eva asked, her voice faltering a bit.

“Yeah. Let’s go check it out. Everyone remember to hold your fire,” Vortex said firmly. “Waller, this is Nexus 1, we have airborne contacts on our radar, and we’re moving to investigate.”

“Affirmative Nexus 1, try to establish contact with them,” Waller replied.

Vortex turned in the direction of the other planes, and everyone else followed right behind him. Eva’s heart pounded harder and faster in her chest. Nervous would be an understatement. She was scared. She tried taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves.

“Unknown aircraft, this is Nexus Squadron of the International Union Peacekeeping Force. Please identify yourselves,” Vortex said over an open radio channel.

The only answer they got was silence. Both groups of planes were getting closer to each other. Eva saw the blips appear on her hud. They displayed the distance from her plane, as well as the aircraft type. In this case, one of the groups was flying F-16Cs, and the other was flying Su-37s.

“Unidentified aircraft, please respond!” Vortex said in a more directing tone.

Again, silence greeted them. The distance between the two groups of aircraft got smaller. Suddenly, a monotone beep sounded off in Eva’s cockpit. It was a radar lock warning.

“Shit, they have a lock on me!” Lucky said before Eva got a chance to say the same thing.

“Everyone, evade!” Vortex’s voice hid a slight hint of panic. “Waller, this is Nexus 1. Unidentified aircraft have a radar lock on us. Are we cleared to engage?”

Eva rolled her plan on its side and made a sharp left turn to evade the enemy. The two groups of aircraft split up, and two F-16s went after her. The lock warning started up again.

“Nexus Squadron, you’re cleared to engage. Take ‘em out,” Waller finally replied.

“I need someone to get these guys off my tail,” Eva said as she pitched up into a loop. She saw an enemy fighter on her radar, and it was heading right for her. She rolled to the right and waited for it to pass her before quickly turning and getting behind it. She made a glance behind herself to see if the other two were following, only to see one of the F-16s explode.

“That’s one bandit off your back, Diamond,” Poet said as he went down and looped back around to go after an Su-37.

“Thanks, Poet, I owe you,” Eva replied as she turned her attention back to the F-16 in front of her. She took a deep breath as she got a solid lock on her target and fired two standard missiles. They quickly found their mark, and the F-16 in front of her exploded. Eva was about to report her success when her plane informed her that she had a missile coming up behind her. She quickly dove down and banked right. The missile had lost its mark, but the F-16 was still behind her. She decided to use the maneuver she learned from Domino. Eva quickly straightened her plane, and once her pursuer did the same. She threw her aircraft straight up, dropping its speed significantly, and the enemy fighter flew right past. As Eva saw the F-16 fly in front of her, she looked the plane over. Its tail had the Erusean flag on it. She wasn’t exactly surprised that it was Erusea, but the whole situation still shocked her. She shook the thoughts out of her head and leveled her plane out behind the enemy, locking on and quickly firing another two missiles at him, which promptly sent the F16 spiraling toward the ground in a fireball.

Eva looked up at Vortex, who had just downed an Su-37, and saw another closing behind him. Without a moment of hesitation, she made a sharp turn up and to the right and went to help him. Vortex turned to his left, and the Erusean fighter behind him made the same turn. Luckily for Eva, this meant that their back was facing her. She accelerated as fast as she could until she finally got a lock. She held it for just a few more seconds so she could get closer. This time, she fired one of her special weapons, a QAAM. It was much faster than her standard missiles, and it destroyed the plane in one hit.

Lucky formed up next to Eva after destroying one of the F-16s. Eva looked both around the sky and on her radar to determine where to go next. Vortex was going to help Magic take out two F-16s, and Charger and Poet were separately engaging two of the Su-37s. The other two were flying in formation over to Charger and Poet. 

“Come on, Diamond, let’s go,” Lucky said, turning to face the Su-37s.

“I’m way ahead of you,” Eva replied, already turning to follow Lucky.

The pair quickly accelerated and got within range, but they saw them coming and split up.

“I’ll take the one on the right. You take the one on the left,” Eva quickly said before splitting off from Lucky and pursuing the Su-37.

She started to lock onto it, but they went up and into a loop. Eva followed after them, making her loop much tighter and ending up right behind her target. She locked on and quickly put another two standard missiles right into them, and Lucky took out the plane he was chasing at almost the same time. Eva turned her attention back to her radar. Charger and Poet had taken out the last of the Su-37s, and there was only one F-16 left, and it was on Magic’s tail. Eva was about to help, but Vortex pulled off a rather impressive maneuver to get behind the F-16 and finish it off with a QAAM.

Eva let out a heavy sigh of relief as the radar showed nothing but their signatures.

“Waller, this is Nexus 1. All hostile aircraft have been destroyed,” Vortex said.

“Roger that Nexus 1, RTB.”

“Uhh, sir, what about the airfield? Isn’t that our primary target?” Vortex asked, clearly confused.

“We received intel from command. I’ll explain in the debriefing. Meteor Squadron is already on their way back,” Waller explained.

“Affirmative. We’re on our way.”

By the time they made their way back and landed, Meteor Squadron had already been there waiting for them. Together, all twelve pilots went to the briefing room, where Waller was already waiting for them.

He took a deep breath. It was clear he had a lot to say, and he wasn’t sure how to say any of it. “Both of you encountered hostile aircraft on the way to your objectives. We have confirmed these to be Erusean planes. Osean Command has told us that Erusea carried out attacks all over Osea and Erusea using precision drones, including attacks against our naval ports. We’re still assessing the damage, but at this moment, we may be the only Osean aircraft carrier still seaworthy. Erusea has taken over most of the Usean continent, as well as the International Space Elevator. It’s official: the Kingdom of Erusea is now at war with the Osean Federation.”


	5. Operation Quick Fists

“It’s official: the Kingdom of Erusea is now at war with the Osean Federation.”

Those words made Eva’s head spin. When she had first shipped off to the Usean continent, the last thing she was expecting was to get caught in the middle of a war. The thought of Erusea attacking Osea also made her nervous. She sincerely prayed that her mother was ok. Living in Oured meant she was probably right in the middle of it all. The thought of her mother getting killed in a bombing raid sent her down a series of concerns and doubts, but she quickly found herself snapping back to reality as Waller continued to speak.

“However, we may be able to bring this war to a quick conclusion personally.” Waller logged into the terminal, and the three beeps signaled the activation of the screen. The map of Usea had most of the continent filled in as red, with only a small part of the eastern coast colored blue. The screen zoomed in on Farbanti. “Currently, we’re on a course for Farbanti, Erusea’s capital. You’re going to be conducting a night raid. Meteor Squadron will seize air superiority in the skies, while Nexus Squadron eliminates any ground forces. Your objective is to clear the way for our ground team, Eclipse Squadron, to seize the Erusean Military HQ.”

Eva nodded, mainly to herself. It seemed like a simple enough operation, although she doubted that it would end that way. But besides that, there was something about this operation that gave her a bad feeling that she couldn’t quite describe. Of course, this feeling was reaffirmed by what Waller said next.

“There’s more. As I mentioned earlier, Erusea carried out precision strikes all across Osea and Erusea using advanced drones launched from containers, MQ-99s. We believe there will be some present at Farbanti as well. These drones are highly maneuverable and very dangerous, so be on your guard if you engage them.” The tone in Waller’s voice was probably more severe than Eva had ever heard before. It was crazy how quickly everyone’s mood shifted in such a short amount of time, Eva included. “We’re still not ready to strike yet, so you have five hours to prepare yourselves as needed. You’re all dismissed.”

Everyone stood up and slowly filed out of the briefing room, and they all made their way toward the mess hall.

Eva sat at a table in the mess hall with the others. She stared blankly at the wall in front of her, thinking about the myriad of doubts in her mind. Frankly, Eva wasn’t sure what to think about any of what was going on. The whole situation just felt surreal. Like it was all some bad dream. Suddenly, Lucky’s voice next to her took her out of her thoughts.

“Huh?” Eva asked, having not heard a word of what everyone was discussing.

Lucky smiled as he nodded to Domino. “I was just telling them how badass you were today. Only one sortie and you’re already almost an ace.”

Eva felt her face get red. She wasn’t good at getting praise. “I didn’t really think much of it at the time. I just flew.” It made sense in her head, but the way she said it made her less confident that it would get her point across.

“You definitely did some impressive flying out there,” Vortex said. “Honestly, I’m proud of you.”

Eva was about to make some sheepish reply, but Domino spoke first. “From the way these guys are talking about you, it sounds like Erusea isn’t gonna know what hit them.”

“Just enjoy the spotlight while you can, Diamond. Because tonight, I’m gonna make your numbers look like child’s play,” Charger said with a grin.

“Oh, whatever. We all know you’re just talk.” Magic nudged him.

Charger feigned an offended look. “You think so little of me? I’m hurt. How about this then, let’s make a bet: whoever gets the most kills tonight wins ten bucks.” He extended his hand.

Magic shook it without hesitation. “Oh, you’re on. It looks like I’m gonna be making easy money tonight.” 

“Says you,” Poet chimed in. “I want in on this bet too.”

“How about we make it a squadron-wide bet?” Vortex suggested. “Everyone has to pay the winner ten bucks.” He looked to the others to see their response.

Lucky shrugged, not as interested as the others, but he still had his signature enthusiasm. “Sure. It’s something else to do in the air at the very least.”

Eva, on the other hand, was eager to get in on the action. “Let’s do it!” 

They all continued their playful banter for a while, and it made Eva feel at ease. It certainly distracted her from all of her worries about the war, which was what mattered most to her at that moment. Their conversation carried on for several hours. By now, the sun had long since disappeared behind the horizon, and stars blanketed the night sky. Suddenly, they all looked up as Waller’s voice sounded off over the intercom.

“Nexus Squadron and Meteor Squadron, report to the hangar and prepare for takeoff,” he said.

Everyone stood up, and Eva’s heart started pounding again. Eva hoped that if this war was going to carry on for a while, that she would get over this nervousness whenever she went into the air, but she wasn’t holding out too much hope for that to happen.

All twelve pilots quickly made their way to the hangar together and started getting prepared to take off. Eva did a quick check of her F/A-18 and climbed in after seeing that it was ready to go. At firsts, she was a bit hesitant to bring QAAMs into a mission where her squadron was mostly engaging ground targets. Still, the only alternative was LASMs, and Eva didn’t know what kind of ships they were going up encounter or if there even were any ships. Besides, if she did end up in a dogfight with an MQ-99, then QAAMs would come in handy. 

Eva taxied onto the flight deck with Lucky as Magic and Poet just finished taking off. They did some last-minute checks with the Control Tower, and they quickly got up into the air. They accelerated to catch up and move into formation with the rest of the squadron and started flying northeast to Farbanti. After a few minutes, Meteor Squadron caught up with them.

“Eclipse Squadron was just taking off as we left, so we’ve got a few minutes to secure their LZ before they arrive,” Domino said.

“Good. Remember, we’ve got the element of surprise, so we’ve gotta make sure that we use it. We want to take out as many targets as we can before they have a chance to react,” Vortex replied.

As all twelve aircraft continued their flight to Erusea’s capital, the pilots tried to reduce the tension with banter like before, but nobody’s mood seemed to be changing. After a while, they all gave up trying and carried on in awkward silence.

Finally, the two squadrons were within reach of Farbanti. They split up into their two formations and split up.

“Waller, this is Nexus 1. We’ve arrived at Farbanti, and we’re engaging now.”

“Roger that Nexus 1. Give ‘em a wake-up call they won’t forget.”

Eva saw targets start to appear on her HUD. As expected, most of them were on the ground, but none of them expected to see enemy fighters in the air.

“What the hell? How did they know we were coming?” Eva asked.

“We can worry about that later. For now, engage the enemy. Leave the fighters to Meteor Squadron,” Vortex quickly replied as he was already diving down to destroy a SAM site. “Everyone split up into groups of two. We’ll cover more ground that way. Charger, you’re with me. Diamond, you and Magic deal with those AA guns near the submerged area. Poet and Lucky, you guys deal with the tanks at the park.”

Everyone split up into their groups and went to their targets. Eva and Magic flew next to each other toward the ruined buildings. Eva took a deep breath in and out as she focused on the AA gun in front of her. She put her finger on the trigger and waited until she was in range. The green box around her target turned red, and one solid beep sounded off to inform her that she had a lock. Eva quickly squeezed down on the trigger, and a single missile soared through the air, crashing into the AA gun and destroying it instantly.

“Hey, Charger. I’ve already got one down,” Eva said with a grin.

“Pft, just one? You’re falling behind Diamond. I’m on three,” Charger replied.

Eva frowned. She flew past the submerged area and looped around, focusing on an AA gun on top of a building. She briefly looked over at Magic, who had just destroyed another AA gun and was locking onto a second one. Just as Eva fired a missile, killing her target. There was a beeping in her cockpit, a missile warning.

“What the hell? I’ve got a missile coming at me?” She pitched her plane up, almost straight up.

“Shake it off, Diamond. Where’s it coming from?” Vortex asked.

Eva frantically scanned her radar as the missile got closer. Finally, she saw it, two signatures out in the water. “It looks like there are two boats out on the water. One of them must have a SAM site on it,” she explained.

Before Vortex or anyone else could say something, Torch’s panicked voice cut through the air. “Onyx, you’ve got a missile on you. Shake it off!”

The voice Eva could only assume belonged to Onyx responded with a grunt. “Shit, I’m hit! I can still fly, though. For a little while, at least.” he finally said.

“Not a chance, I don’t want you dying. Torch, head back with Onyx,” Domino said assertively.

“Wilco, sir. Come on, Onyx, let’s go,” Torch responded.

There was a moment of pause before Onyx finally spoke. “Fine,” was all he said.

“Waller, Meteor 6 is hit, I’m sending him back with Meteor 2,” Domino informed the captain.

“Roger that. Nexus Squadron, Eclipse Squadron just landed at the AO, and they’re making their way to the HQ. Ensure they make it there,” Waller said.

“Wilco. Everyone, finish up with what you’re doing and form up on me,” Vortex said to his squadron.

“Vortex, what’s that down there?” Charger asked all of a sudden.

“I’m not sure. It looks like the containers on those trucks are doing something,” Vortex replied. “Let’s go and get a closer look.

Eva destroyed another AA gun and went up into the sky. She craned her neck towards Vortex and Charger’s direction to see what was going on, but she was too far away. She looped around and headed straight down toward another gun, destroying it before quickly pulling up again. After regrouping with Magic, the two pilots made their way over to Vortex’s position. Suddenly, five new contacts appeared on Eva’s radar below Vortex and Charger, and they were quickly ascending. They moved in a way that Eva didn’t even know was possible. They were able to make such sharp turns on a dime, and they accelerated so quickly.

“What the hell are these things?” Charger asked, clearly struggling to keep up with these new contacts.

“They’re drones. No doubt about it,” Vortex said in a very matter-of-fact way. “Meteor Squadron, you’ve got MQ-99s coming at you!”

“Roger, we see them,” Domino replied. “We’ll try to keep them busy. You guys protect Eclipse Squadron.”

Eva and Magic formed up with Vortex and Charger. Lucky and Poet quickly followed suit. More drones started getting launched up from below, and they quickly engaged Nexus Squadron. Eva found herself being tailed by a drone that was quickly locking onto her. She weaved around in the sky, and for the most part, she was able to break the lock, but the drone was still on her tail. Eva quickly spotted another drone heading her way. Within the span of a few seconds, she switched to her QAAMs and fired one directly at the drone, destroying it.

“We’ve gotta destroy those containers. Otherwise, they’ll just keep launching more UAVs. Charger, take Magic and Lucky, and destroy the containers. Poet, Diamond, you’re with me. We’ve gotta deal with these drones,” Vortex said, quickly getting his thoughts together and taking charge.

“Shit! Waller, things aren’t looking good here,” Domino said, suddenly. “Meteor 3 and Meteor 5 are both hit too. I’m sending them back as well. Meteor 4 and I are forming a rearguard to give them time to pull out.”

“Just hang in there. Eclipse Squadron is almost to the HQ,” Waller replied with a hint of desperation in his tone.

Eva let out a sigh of relief as she finally got the drone off her tail. She made a tight loop around and saw her former pursuer with another drone heading over to Poet’s position. She quickly fired another QAAM at the first drone and two standard missiles at the second one.

“Charger, shake that missile!” Magic’s panicked voice suddenly cut into the radio.

“Dammit, it got me. I’m hit,” Charger replied with a worried edge to his tone.

“What’s your status, Charger? Can you still fly?” Vortex asked, ensuring that he kept his calm.

There was a slight pause before Charger finally replied. “Yeah, I think so, anyway.”

“Alright, do you think you can hold on until we’re done?” Vortex asked him.

“You don’t gotta worry about me, Vortex. I’ll be fine,” Charger replied.

Eva let out a sigh of relief knowing that Charger was still ok, but it didn’t change the fact that they were severely outnumbered. She spotted a drone heading right for her, and she turned to face it directly, quickly finishing it off with a QAAM.

“Vortex, what’s our plan here? We can’t keep doing this.” Eva tried to hide the concern in her voice.

“We’ve just gotta keep Eclipse Squadron safe,” Vortex told her.

“Vortex,” Domino cut in. “Meteor 4 is hit, and I’m running low on missiles. I’m sorry, but we’re pulling out.” There was a deep sense of regret as he spoke.

“It’s ok, just keep your guys safe, we’ll be fine,” Vortex assured him.

“What the hell? Oh my god, no!” Lucky’s voice contained a level of fear that she had never heard from him before.

“Lucky, get ahold of yourself and talk to me,” Vortex said clearly and concisely.

There was a brief moment of silence before Lucky finally spoke. “I- I didn’t- I would never-” It was clear that he was shaking.

“Eclipse Squadron is down!” Waller cut in. His voice was laced with a mixture of shock and frustration.

“I swear- Vortex I _swear-_ I would never-” Lucky fumbled over his words.

“Just tell us, Lucky,” Vortex said calmly. 

“My missiles went crazy. One of them… hit Eclipse Squadron, and the other hit a civilian building- but I didn’t try to. _Please_ , you’ve got to believe me.”

“Nexus Squadron, you’ve got enemy aircraft approaching from the northeast. Fall back to the carrier. We’ve suffered too many losses,” Waller said.

Eva broke off as she destroyed another drone and formed back up with Vortex. Together, all six aircraft left Farbanti. Nobody said a word as they flew back to base. It was dead silent, but nobody had anything to say. None of it mattered anyway. They had failed their mission, and they had done so in the worst possible way.


	6. Unlucky

It was unnaturally quiet as Nexus Squadron entered the briefing room. The pilots of Meteor Squadron were already there, and Waller was as well. Eva couldn’t help but feel saddened by watching Lucky walk in with his head low and avoiding everyone’s eyes. While everyone else sat in their usual spots, he chose to sit as far back as he could, away from the others.

Waller started with a deep breath. “Firstly, I would like to commend all of you. You managed to weaken Farbanti’s ground defenses severely, and you completely neutralized their drone launching capabilities.” He paused for a long while. “However, there’s no way that we can consider this mission a success. In addition to most of our aircraft sustaining massive damage, we failed to take the Erusean Military HQ, not to mention that Eclipse Squadron is dead. Plus, the bombing of civilians has turned the opinion of neutral countries against us.” Waller’s eyes looked up and toward the back of the room. “Lucky, you are suspected of intentionally murdering Eclipse Squadron. The same goes for your bombing of civilians. There’s going to be an inquiry, and probably a court-martial.”

Eva couldn’t stand the thought of Lucky being court-martialed and sent off to prison. He was no criminal; he was probably the nicest of them all. She looked back at him to see his reaction. Tears welled up in his eyes as he tried feebly to come up with a response, but nothing came out of his mouth. He simply stood up and walked out of the briefing room.

Waller looked as if he was about to say something, but Vortex stopped him. “Let him go,” Vortex said. “Just… let him go.”

Waller looked down at the floor. “You’re all dismissed. Except for you two.” He pointed to Vortex and Domino. “We need to formulate a plan now that we only have a few pilots that can fly.”

Eva paused as she stood outside Lucky’s room. She had looked everywhere else for him, but this was the only place she hadn’t checked. She hated seeing Lucky like this, but she’d be hating herself if she didn’t at least try to make him feel better. Eva had never seen him this sad about anything. She understood where he was coming from, but it still felt weird to her. She took a deep breath and gently knocked on the metal door.

“Go away, Poet,” Lucky said, his voice muffled by the door.

“It’s not Poet,” Eva replied. “It’s me. I just wanna talk to you.”

There was an awkward moment of quiet until the door slowly opened from the inside. Lucky quickly avoided Eva’s eyes. “Came to talk to the war criminal?” he asked bitterly.

Eva felt her heart sink at Lucky’s tone. He really was taking this hard. “You’re not a-” 

“Does it matter? I pulled the trigger, and that’s all that matters, to them anyways,” Lucky interrupted her. He turned around and sat down on the bottom bunk and buried his face in his hands.

Eva cautiously followed him into the room and shut the door behind her. “But it does matter,” she gently told him. “Because you weren’t trying to kill them.” She sat down next to him on the bed. “What if the Eruseans hacked your missiles’ targeting or something. We don’t know what happened, so it’s not right for you to blame yourself.”

Lucky wiped tears from his eyes as he looked straight ahead at the wall. “I just can’t stop thinking about it. Some innocent civilians are dead because of me. I could’ve just killed an entire family, and that’s saying nothing about Eclipse Squadron. They had people waiting for them back home, and they’ll never see them again. All because of me.”

Eva could feel a tear rolling down her cheek, but she quickly brushed it off. It hurt seeing Lucky this way. He didn’t deserve to feel like this; it just wasn’t fair. Eva put her hand on his shoulder. “Listen…” She tried to figure out the right way to word what she was trying to say. “I know you’re not guilty, and you should know that too. But no matter what happens, you should know that I’ll be here for you, and so will the others. Because guilty or not, you’re our friend, and nothing is gonna change that. So don’t think you have to do this alone, because you’re not alone.”

Lucky’s eyes met hers before he quickly looked away again. “It’s just- I can’t…” he fumbled over his words no matter what he tried to say. He let out a heavy sigh and nodded. “Thanks, Diamond.” For the first time since they got back, a smile appeared on his face as he looked up at her. “Thank you,” he repeated.

Eva stood up. “Don’t mention it,” she told him. The heartfelt smile she had turned into a playful smirk. “Come on, let’s go get some food.”

By the time Eva and Lucky arrived at the mess hall, the sun still hadn’t risen yet, so the room was empty. There wasn’t much in the way of food, just a few things that didn’t get eaten before. However, while both pilots said they were going to the mess hall to eat, neither of them grabbed anything. In the three weeks that they had been at sea, the mess hall had turned into Nexus Squadron’s preferred spot to meet. Perhaps it was the familiarity of the place and the memories they had there that made them gravitate toward it. Eva and Lucky sat across from each other at their usual table. Neither of them said anything. It was just nice to have a chance to relax after everything that had happened that day. Having two sorties in one day took a lot out of Eva, so she would gladly accept a break.

“There you two are!” Magic’s sudden voice cut Eva from her thoughts. She turned her head to see Magic and Poet coming into the mess hall and sitting next to them. “Are you okay, Lucky?” Magic asked.

Lucky faintly nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine,” he answered. “I just needed some time to process everything is all.”

“Alright, but if you do need anything, don’t be afraid to let us know. We’re here for you, man,” Poet chimed in.

Eva flashed Lucky a smile with a friendly ‘I told you so’ look on her face. “Where’s Vortex and Charger?” she asked, observing the absence of their other two wingmen.

“Vortex is still with Waller and Domino, and Charger is with him. They shouldn’t be too far behind, though,” Poet answered.

Eva felt a feeling of dread as she thought about whatever they were going to do next. They failed to take the capital, so what else was there to do? Perhaps they had reinforcements coming, but even then, Erusea had quite the defense. It would take a lot for their capital to fall., but whatever happened, she just hoped that they didn’t lose anyone. 

The four pilots talked for a few minutes before Vortex and Charger joined them in the mess hall.

“Aren’t you guys tired? It’s like, two in the morning,” Vortex said, barely suppressing a yawn.

“Can’t sleep,” Lucky answered.

Vortex gave him a sympathetic look. “Listen, Lucky. I just finished talking with Waller, and I’m going to stay grounded and help you with the inquiry,” he told Lucky.

Lucky had a look of surprise on his face. “You don’t have to do that. You should focus flying,” he finally managed to say.

“I do have to do this,” Vortex insisted. “I’m your squadron leader, so it’s my job to make sure that you’re ok.”

“Plus, since my bird’s out of commission for the time being, I’ll be there too,” Charger added. “We’ve got your back.” He gave Lucky a friendly nudge on the shoulder.

“So uhh… what’s gonna happen with the rest of us?” Poet asked.

“Since most of Meteor Squadron’s planes are needing repairs at the moment, you three are going to be flying under Domino and Torch in Meteor Squadron,” Vortex replied, gesturing to Eva, Magic, and Poet. “As for your next mission, Waller will go over that at your next briefing, which is in two days.”

Eva felt put at ease by the thought of not having to go up into the air for another two days. She felt exhausted, so she much appreciated having a break. But at the same time, she was curious about what would happen flying under Domino. He was undoubtedly an impressive pilot, maybe even as good as Vortex, so perhaps Eva would be able to pick up a few skills from him. It was then that Eva realized how much she appreciated Waller. Despite how quickly everything had gone wrong in the span of a few hours, he was able to keep a clear head and formulate another plan. They were lucky to have him. 

“Well…” Charger said with a yawn as he stood up. “I’m gonna go hit the hay,” he announced.

“Same here. Good night everyone,” Vortex said, going with Charger back to their room.

Before long, everyone else did the same, and the mess hall was once again empty.


	7. Operation Shark Hunter

Eva got a strange feeling from being in the briefing room without half of her squadron. She wasn’t quite sure how to describe it other than just wrong. It didn’t help that the other pilots from Meteor Squadron weren’t there either. Although, it’s not like they had a reason to be there since their planes were out of commission for the time being. Thinking about everyone that wasn’t present made Eva’s mind wander over to Lucky. She sincerely hoped that he would be able to make it out of his situation, but at the same time, she wasn’t too worried. After all, he had Vortex and Charger with him.

“Alright, everyone, listen up.” Waller’s voice, followed by the three beeps coming from the terminal, pulled Eva from her thoughts. “As I’m sure you can recall, most of our planes suffered quite a bit of damage during our attack on Farbanti. You five are the only ones still able to fly.” The map of Usea on the screen synced with the satellite data, displaying most of the continent as red, and a small portion in the southeast. “So while they’re under repairs, you three will be temporarily be flying under Meteor Squadron with Domino and Torch.” 

Meteor Squadron’s emblem appeared on the screen, and a list of all their names dropped down. However, Eva was surprised to see her name directly below Torch’s, with Magic and Poet below her. 

“Now, it’s time for your mission,” Waller continued. The map zoomed in on their position. “Our objective is still to take control of Farbanti. However, we’re going to make sure that we even the odds this time. After an analysis of the battle, we’ve determined what targets we need to hit and in what order we need to hit them in.” Three red dots appeared on the map, one on Anchorhead Bay, one northeast of Farbanti, and one in what looked to be a mountainous region. “After our attack on Farbanti, Erusea had few defenses left, so they’re trying to reinforce themselves. According to our intel, a decently-sized fleet left Anchorhead Bay this morning, and they’re on their way to Farbanti as we speak.” A red, dotted line went from the red dot on Anchorhead Bay to Farbanti. “You’ll be going to intercept and sink them momentarily. Our next target is a radar site located on Mount Lambert. We’ve determined that this site is how the Eruseans knew we were coming to Farbanti. We’ll need to destroy it before moving onto our final target, the former IUPF airfield that Erusea captured northeast of Farbanti. By capturing this target last, we reduce the chances of Erusea recapturing it before we attack Farbanti. As a result, the aircraft responding to our attack will have to come from farther away.”

Eva looked over at Domino and Torch, trying to read their reactions on everything, but both had an unreadable expression. It looked as if they were studying the screen, taking in every little detail.

“Now, let’s get you up into the sky. You’ve got a fleet to sink,” Waller concluded.

The five pilots stood up and saluted the ship’s captain before making their way out of the briefing room and towards the hangar.

“Meteor 3, Meteor 4, you’re cleared for takeoff,” Waller told them.

Eva’s plane shot forward from the catapult, with Magic right behind her, and the two of them accelerated to form up behind Domino and Torch. After Poet brought up the rear, they all turned southeast toward the fleet’s location on their radars. As they flew through the tranquil skies, Eva couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious. She hadn’t flown without Vortex before, and while she didn’t doubt Domino’s skills by any means, Eva still felt unsure of something. Maybe it was the mission or the war in general, or perhaps it was herself she was doubting. Although she had been doing well, as her wingmen reminded her, and she was technically an ace, she still felt a sort of creeping feeling the longer the war carried on, a feeling that Eva couldn’t quite describe.

The pilots carried on in silence for the majority of the flight. Until finally, they had a visual on the enemy fleet. Two aircraft carriers stayed at the center of the fleet’s formation, surrounded by nearly a dozen other ships. Among them were frigates, destroyers, aegis vessels, and cruisers.

“Waller, this is Meteor 1. We have a visual on the fleet and are engaging now,” Domino reported.

“Affirmative,” Waller responded. “Give them hell.”

“You heard the man, let’s go get ‘em!” Domino said in a more lighthearted tone.

Eva switched to her special weapons, LASMs, and locked onto one of the aegis vessels that were still around 4000 meters away. She fired a single missile as soon as she had a lock.

“Meteor 3, Fox 3,” Eva called out. She still thought it felt weird to be using Meteor as a callsign instead of Nexus, but she didn’t dwell too much on it.

Eva’s missile glided gracefully toward its target. However, a hail of gunfire erupted from the aegis vessel, and it shot the missile out of the sky. Eva flew over the ship, staying about 1000 meters in the air, and watched as her attack failed.

“Damn. My missile didn’t connect,” Eva cursed, banking right to avoid one of the destroyers’ AA barrages.

“Aegis vessels have powerful CIWS that’ll intercept your attacks. Your best bet is to make a low approach and hit them with standard missiles,” Torch told her.

“The closer to the water, the better,” Domino added.

Eva took a deep breath. She wasn’t a fan of low altitude flying, but she didn’t have much of a choice if it was the best way to take out the target. “Wilco, going in for another run,” she replied.

As Eva dove to the water, she saw Poet and Torch taking turns doing flybys on one of the destroyers. She pulled up only 50 meters above the water and headed straight for the aegis vessel. Eva quickly got a lock but held off on firing until she got closer. The ship’s guns started shooting at her, but she moved too fast and close to the water for them to hit her. She held down her machine guns until finally, she fired two missiles and pulled straight up. Both of Eva’s attacks slammed right into the ship’s hull, and it exploded.

“Nice, aegis vessel sunk!” she reported in a somewhat cheery tone.

“And just as Torch and I sunk one of the destroyers,” Poet chimed in.

Magic was the next one to speak. “Hey guys, hate to break up the moment, but we’ve got aircraft launching from the carriers.” The tone in her voice indicated that she was already dogfighting with one of these fighters.

Eva quickly looked over in Magic’s direction to see what they were up against. A squadron of Rafales had taken off from the first carrier, and some Su-33s were getting ready to be launched from the second. Without hesitation, she turned to help her squadmate.

“Don’t worry, Magic. I’m on my way,” Eva told her. 

She got a lock on one of the Rafales and fired two missiles at it, but the enemy fighter banked right and broke her lock. Eva followed after it and quickly regained a radar lock, but just as she was about to fire, her target pitched up. With the fastest reflexes she could manage, Eva mimicked the enemy’s movements and fired two missiles at the Rafale, which didn’t take long to find their mark. She rolled onto her right side and turned in one fluid motion as she engaged one of the Su-33s that had just taken off.

“Diamond, heads up, enemy on your six!” Poet called out.

Eva quickly looked down at her radar and saw that one of the Rafales had snuck up behind her. She broke off from the Su-33 and made a hard bank left. Unfortunately, her pursuer had no problem following her. A radar lock warning started beeping in her cockpit, and a missile warning sounded off shortly after. Eva waited for a few brief seconds, waiting for the incoming missile to get closer until she pitched up in a high-G turn. The missile didn’t react quickly enough and flew right past her, losing its lock. With the immediate threat off her tail, Eva made a sharp turn to the right before twisting back down while the enemy Rafale was still trying to follow her upward motion. She momentarily leveled her plane out before doing a 180 to face the Rafale, which was now straight ahead of her. Before the enemy pilot even had time to react, two missiles had slammed into him, causing his plane to spiral downward and explode.

Eva let out a sigh of relief after the intense maneuvering. “Thanks for the heads up, Poet. I owe you,” she said.

“And here I thought you might need my help dealing with the fighter,” Poet replied with a chuckle.

Eva suddenly realized that the amount of AA fire getting shot at them had significantly reduced, although there was still quite a lot. She looked around and realized that Domino and Torch had sunk two of the destroyers.

“Damn you two, you really went to town on these ships, huh?” she called out.

Torch laughed. “You guys wanna have a go at them? By all means, be my guest. I’ll gladly deal with the fighters for you guys,” he offered.

“I think I just might take you up on that offer, Torch,” Eva replied with a grin on her face. “Magic? You want a piece?”

“Nah, I’ll pass. I’m doing just fine up here,” Magic said.

Poet chimed in as well. “Yeah, same here. You have fun, though, Diamond.”

Eva broke off from the fighters and turned her attention to one of the cruisers outside the fleet’s formation. Once again, she switched from her standard missiles to her LASMs and faced the cruiser. She climbed up a higher altitude and quickly got within range of her target, and as soon as she did, she fired a single missile. With no CIWS to protect the cruiser, the anti-ship missile cruised through the air and collided with its hull, destroying the cruiser in a single shot.

“You guys are making good progress,” Waller reported. “70% of the enemy fleet is down, and it looks like you’ve taken out all their fighters as well. Keep at it.”

“And here I thought that this mission was gonna be a challenge,” Poet said with a chuckle.

“I’ve got no problem with easy missions,” Eva replied as she dodged anti-air fire coming from one of the cruisers. “I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not get shot down.”

“Let’s not jynx ourselves guys,” Domino chimed in. “We’ve still got some boats to sink.”

“Yeah, I’m with Domino on this,” Magic added. “I don’t wanna speak too soon.”

Eva made a dive down to the water and approached one of the aegis vessels, using the same tactic as before. She let out a hail of machine-gun fire and fired two missiles at its hull, pulling up at the last second. As Eva ascended into the sky again, she saw Domino doing the same thing and destroying another ship.

“All aegis vessels destroyed. Only the carriers are left,” Waller told them.

“Hey, look at the carriers,” Torch said. “They’re moving something onto the flight decks.”

Eva turned toward the carriers and went in low to try and get a closer look. However, just as she got within range, new radar contacts appeared going up from the carriers, and they were moving fast. It didn’t take long for Eva to identify them.

“Drones!” she reported. As quickly as she could manage, she maneuvered herself behind one of the drones that had just taken off and quickly finished it off with a single missile. As agile as the MQ-99s were, they couldn’t take a hit.

“They loaded drones on the carriers?” Poet asked.

“Well, they’re small and easy to launch. There’s no telling how many are on that thing,” Domino said. “We’ve gotta take ‘em out. Torch, you and Magic destroy those carriers, keep them from launching any more. Diamond, Poet, we’ll take on the drones,” he quickly instructed everyone.

“Copy, we’re on it. Let’s go, Magic,” Torch responded.

“Right behind you,” Magic said.

Suddenly, a warning sounded off in Eva’s cockpit. She had a drone on her tail, and it was locking on. She banked left and went into a high-G turn to try and get behind it, but the drone was practically glued to her tail. A missile warning quickly replaced the enemy lock warning, but Eva barely managed to outmaneuver the missile. She craned her neck behind her to try and spot the drone on her tail. It was matching her move for move. She had to do something. Eva sent her plane straight down towards the water, and her pursuer followed. She got closer and closer to the water until she finally pulled up in a high-G turn at the last moment. Eva was mere meters above the water, and as she predicted, the drone didn’t respond in time and plunged into the ocean. As she returned to a more comfortable altitude, she saw Domino in hot pursuit of a drone, but she quickly spotted another one coming up behind him.

“Meteor 1, bandit behind you!” she warned him as she went to try and take out the drone.

“Copy, I see it. Can you deal with it for me? I’ve got my hands full with this one,” he replied.

“I’m already on it,” Eva replied just as she was locking onto the drone. Luckily, since it seemed preoccupied with Domino, it wasn’t that hard to take down. She fired a single missile, and it hit its mark without any problem.

“Thanks, Diamond,” Domino said as he destroyed the drone he was chasing.

“One carrier is down,” Torch reported. “And the other is about to go with it.”

“Good work, you two!” Domino praised him and Magic. “Finish it off, and we can head home.”

“Wilco. I’m just giving it the final shot now,” Magic said.

Eva looked over at the remaining carrier and saw Magic fire two missiles at its hull. The carrier exploded and slowly started sinking to the ocean floor below.

“All aircraft, no more hostiles on radar. The mission is complete,” Waller told them. “RTB and report for debriefing.”

“Roger that, we’re on our way,” Domino replied. “Good work, everyone. I’m proud of you guys,” he told his squadron as they formed up behind him.

After landing and making their way to the briefing room, the pilots took a seat while Waller sat in front of the terminal, looking at something on the screen. 

“We’ve successfully destroyed the enemy fleet, and as a result, Farbanti will remain without reinforcements for a while longer. However, the revelation that Erusea is carrying drones on aircraft carriers is worrying. We’ll have to be careful when dealing with their navy in the future. That’s all for now, dismissed.”


	8. Operation Blind Man

For the first time in almost a week, the pilots of Nexus Squadron had finally found the time to meet up at the mess hall again. They were all looking forward to it, but it just didn’t feel the same as before. After being split up, however temporary it may be, everyone felt the same feeling.

“So, how are the missions going?” Vortex asked the three pilots still in the air.

Eva took one final sip from her coffee, emptying the cup. “We’ve gone up once so far, and that was almost a week ago now,” she answered.

“Why are they waiting?” Charger asked. “I thought that time was of the essence.”

“I’m sure they have their reasons,” Vortex said reasonably. “And I’m sure you’ll be going up soon, so be ready.”

“Well, on the bright side, we’ve got two more steps, and then Farbanti should be a piece of cake,” Poet said optimistically.

“Tch, yeah ‘should be’ is the key phrase there,” Magic chimed in. “It should’ve been easy the last time too, but we all saw how that turned out.”

“Yeah, but this time, we’ll have the advantage,” Eva reminded her. “I just hope that you guys will be able to join us by then.” She looked over at Lucky, who had barely said anything. “How’s everything going for you, guys?” she hesitantly asked.

Vortex sighed. “We’re going to be starting the court-martial tomorrow.” He paused for a moment, looking away from the group as he spoke. “I imagine it’s going to be quick,” he added in a lower voice.

Eva resisted the urge to slam her fist on the table. “It’s such bullshit!” she huffed. “They’re just looking for someone to take the blame.” 

“Yeah. At this point, I don’t think they’re even trying to deny it,” Charger said with a nod.

Eva sighed. “I guess that means you guys are going to be shipping out today to go to the court-martial?” she asked.

Vortex shook his head. “Actually, no. We’re doing it right here on the carrier through some internet call or something. Waller managed to convince the top brass not to ship us back since we’re needed here.”

Magic scoffed. “It’s the least he could do after basically accusing Lucky of killing civilians intentionally,” she said dryly.

Vortex looked as if he was about to respond, but the PA system cut him off. “Meteor Squadron, report to the briefing room ASAP.” Waller’s voice rang through the mess hall.

“Is he crazy? A thunderstorm is moving in, and he picks today of all days to do this mission?” Poet asked.

“At least we get to do something. Let’s go,” Eva said, standing up. She briefly waved to the other three pilots as she left with Magic and Poet right behind her.

When they arrived, Domino and Torch were already seated, and Waller was just booting up the system. The familiar three beeps sounded off, and the map of Usea displayed on the screen as everyone sat down.

“Alright, let’s get the briefing started,” Waller said. The map synced with the satellite data and displayed friendly and enemy territory. “Your target is the radar facility on Mount Lambert. Destroying this site will allow us to strike the airfield near Farbanti with surprise on our side, and we’ll have the same element of surprise when we hit Farbanti itself,” Waller explained.

“How are we going in?” Domino asked.

“There’s a reason we’re going in today when there’s a storm moving in. You’re going to be flying in at low altitudes using the storm clouds as cover,” Waller told them. “But it’s not as simple as blowing up the radar site and running away.” The map zoomed in on Mount Lambert and the surrounding region. “There are other smaller radar sites located around the main one. Also, they’re all connected to an extensive system of precision AA guns and XSAMs.”

Groups of red dots appeared all around the mountain, and pictures of the radars and XSAMs appeared on the screen.

Waller took a deep breath. “Simply put, a five plane formation wouldn’t make it through undetected even if we weren’t doing this in a thunderstorm. We’ll be sending one aircraft in to maneuver through the storm and the radar network to take out the leading site. After the radar is down, the anti-air system will be crippled, allowing the rest of the squadron to move in and neutralize the rest.”

Eva looked around at the others to see if they were as unsure about this plan as she was. Only one aircraft going is crazy, not to mention dangerous. Domino and Torch nodded slowly while looking at the screen, while Magic and Poet both had a concerned look on their faces.

“So, who’s the one that’s going to do it?” Eva finally asked.

Waller looked her in the eyes. “You are,” he told her.

Eva froze on the spot. “M- me?” she asked stammering. “With all due respect, sir, I don’t know if I can do this,” she admitted. What made him think she was the best pick for this mission?

“You can do this. I know you can. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have requested you to do it,” Domino said as he turned to face her.

Eva’s mind desperately tried to come up with something to say, anything. Why did he have so much faith in her? She tried to speak, but no words came out. Instead, she looked over to Magic and Poet in the hope that they would back her up.

Poet shrugged. “I think you can do it, Diamond. You’re a better pilot than you give yourself credit for.”

Magic gave her an assuring smile. “If anyone here can do this, it’s you. We’ll be right behind you.”

Eva sighed. In her opinion, it was a terrible plan, no matter who went, but she didn’t seem to have much choice. “Fine, let’s do this.”

Eva could feel sweat sliding down her forehead under her helmet, and she could feel her hands clamming up. Ahead of her were a black cloud and an extensive anti-air system. Behind her, though, was her friends, however far behind they might be, and that filled her with a feeling of determination. 

“Meteor 3, you’re about to pass through Waypoint One, keep your altitude below 700 meters, and do not fire your weapons until you reach the target. Imposing radio silence now,” Waller told her.

Eva took a deep breath as she lowered her altitude. She had to resist the urge to say anything back. She could feel her hands start to shake against the control stick as she approached the thunderclouds. The frame of her plane began to shudder as she went into the clouds. Eva tried to steady her breathing to calm her nerves. She thought back to Vortex’s advice: always go into the sky with a clear mind. Casting her doubts aside, Eva looked down at her radar. Red circles started coming into view, marking the enemy radar’s detection radius. It was difficult to maneuver inside the clouds, but Eva managed to get past the first radar unnoticed.

The silence was killing her. The only things she could hear were the muffled cries of her engines and the shaking of her plane in the clouds. She looked down at her radar again and slowly maneuvered around another radar site. Suddenly, a flash of white filled Eva’s eyes, and her plane shook much more rigid than before as it started to descend. She blinked the white from her eyes and quickly realized she was rapidly going down and corrected her altitude. Her HUD was glitching, but other than that, all of her instruments looked fine. Eva’s breathing finally settled again as she adjusted her course around another radar site.

“Did I just get struck by lightning?” she asked herself.

Eva shook the thoughts out of her mind and focused on the mission, as much as she could anyway. Ahead of her, she saw two radar sites almost right next to each other. There was only a small gap between their detection radiuses, but it was her only way forward. She adjusted her course a bit to the left, although it wasn’t easy for her to keep a steady angle with the wind pushing her plane around. As Eva got closer to her narrow window of opportunity, she realized that another radar was almost immediately behind the other two. She would have to make a hard right turn right away, but she was almost at the objective after that.

Eva couldn’t help but hold her breath as she went between the narrowest of gaps provided by the two radar sites. At this point, she was terrified of being detected. After she had gotten this far, there was no way she’d be able to get back out. Her only path was forward. She let out a sigh of relief as she made it past the corridor and immediately went into a right turn. The strong winds from the storm cloud weren’t making things easy for her, but at least she wasn’t getting struck by lightning again. Finally, she saw the last hurdle before she was in the clear. Only one more left turn through a corridor that wasn’t nearly as narrow as the other one.

“You can do this,” Eva muttered to herself. “You can do this,” she repeated.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she got closer and closer to the final turn. She gripped the control stick tightly, making sure that the wind didn’t blow her off-course. Finally, she made the tightest turn she could manage given the wind conditions and flew right through the gap between the two radars. After all the work she had put in, she finally made it to the base of the mountain.

With no time to lose, Eva accelerated as fast as her plane would allow her as she curved right up the side of the mountain. She could see her target appear on her HUD, although she wasn’t quite in range. Eva watched in anticipation as the target’s range got smaller and smaller, and she climbed higher and higher. The one long beep from her cockpit informed her that she was locked on, but she didn’t have a visual on the radar. Finally, the summit of the mountain was in her sights, and so was the radar. Eva quickly fired two missiles, which elegantly soared through the air and crashed into the radar, destroying it.

“This is Meteor 3. The target is down!” Eva reported. She felt a rush of exhilaration wash over her. That was the most intense thing she had ever done.

“Good job, Diamond. We’re moving in now. Feel free to deal with the other radar sites,” Domino told her.

“Wilco, I’m already on it. I’ll try to save some for you until you get here,” Eva said with a grin.

With that, Eva made her way back down the mountain to the nearest radar site. It had an AA gun and XSAM site protecting it, but they weren’t much help with the primary radar down. Eva destroyed them with a missile each before they could fire, and she finished the radar off with her machine guns.

“Meteor 3, Meteor Squadron is entering the AO now,” Waller told her.

“We even took out one of the radar sites,” Torch added.

“You’re welcome,” Poet chimed in.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I didn’t see you maneuvering through a bunch of radars and a thunderstorm,” Eva shot back.

“Touché,” Poet replied.

As Eva and Meteor Squadron made their way towards each other, Eva managed to take out another two radar sites, and the others reported they got another one as well.

“Only five radars remain in the area,” Waller reported. “Take them out.”

“You heard the man,” Domino said as Eva slipped into formation. “Let’s split up. Torch, let’s go take out those two on the far side.”

“I’m right behind you,” Torch told him.

“Alright, good. You three can take out the rest,” Domino told the others.

“One for each of us, perfect,” Magic chimed in.

Eva turned toward the three radar sites that Domino and Torch were moving away from and moved closer. Magic and Poet followed right behind her. As soon as Eva reached the first one, the other two split off to deal with their targets. Using the same strategy as before, a missile on each defense system, and finishing the site with machine guns, Eva made short work of the radar.

Just as she was about to report her success, however, Waller beat her to it. “Meteor Squadron, all radars are down. Mission accomplished.”

“Oh, come on. You sound surprised, sir,” Torch said in a jesting tone.

Waller couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Just get your asses back to base.”

Although Eva’s plane was a bit shaken up by flying through the storm, there was no severe damage, for which she was relieved. After landing and getting out of their planes, everyone made their way to the debriefing room. And as usual, Waller was already there waiting for them. They all took a seat, and he turned on the screen, which displayed data about the operation.

“The operation was a success. With the radar site out of the way, we have a clear shot at the airbase and Farbanti,” Waller informed them. “You did well out there today Diamond.” He gave her a look that conveyed a mixture of happiness and pride.

“Thank you, sir. I was just doing my job,” Eva replied.

“Well, I think you all deserve a rest for now. Dismissed.”


	9. The Trial

Lucas could feel his hand clenching up into a tight fist. After what happened with Vortex, he swore that he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to anyone in his squadron ever again. Yet, here he was, practically powerless as one of his youngest pilots was about to get court-martialed. Lucky didn’t deserve this, but it seemed as though the top brass already had their mind made up. Lucas felt as though this was his fault somehow. If he had gone to deal with the containers at Farbanti instead of Lucky, maybe they wouldn’t be in this situation. Lucas looked over to Charger to try and read his thoughts on the situation. He had furrowed his brow, and his eyes displayed a sort of anger. It was clear that he felt the same as Lucas did.

They had been waiting in silence for several minutes before the prosecutor finally spoke. “Now then, Lieutenant Atkinson. Will you please start us off by recounting what happened on the morning of May 16th?” he asked.

Lucky nodded shakily. It felt strange hearing Lucky referred to using his real name. “Well, uhm.” Lucky cleared his throat. “My squadron was performing a night raid on Farbanti in an attempt to keep the war from starting,” he explained. “There were six pilots, including myself, in my squadron, and another six pilots in another squadron. Their mission was to seize air superiority while we engaged targets on the ground and covered our ground units.” Lucas could see beads of sweat rolling down Lucky’s forehead.

The prosecutor nodded. “I see, and then what happened?” he asked.

“Well, things were going well at first, but then we saw drones launching from containers on the ground. So, we split up, half of us destroyed the containers on the ground, and the other half took on the drones.”

Lucas tried to steady his nerves. Despite the considerable pressure Lucky was under, he was doing a commendable job. Although, he wasn’t quite sure if it would end up making a difference.

“And then the incident in question happened?” the prosecutor guessed.

“I was moving in to destroy one of the last containers. I was locked on, but just as I fired my missiles, my HUD glitched out for a split second, and my missiles went crazy.” Lucky paused, taking a moment to collect himself. “It wasn’t until our CO said where my missiles hit that I truly grasped what had just happened.”

The look on the prosecutor’s face turned from one of intrigue to one of skepticism. “So, you’re saying that your missiles just randomly went into a civilian area and a friendly ground unit?”

Lucas’ anger quickly returned. He didn’t believe him. What motivation would Lucky have to lie? Couldn’t the prosecutor tell that he was telling the truth?

“Yes sir, that’s exactly what happened,” Lucky said with a level of conviction Lucas never expected to come from him.

The prosecutor nodded. “I see… the defendant is excused, and I’d like to call Lieutenant Conley to the stand.”

Charger straightened his posture and faced the camera. “Right here, sir,” he quickly answered.

“Now. I’ve read the operation reports, and from what I’ve gathered, it seems you lead the group of fighters assigned with taking out these containers. Is that correct?” the prosecutor asked.

Charger nodded. “Yes, sir. Vortex and I have been with each other for a long time, so when we split up, it’s usually me that leads the second group,” he explained.

The prosecutor’s brow furrowed. “I see. Although, in the future, please refrain from using code names and stick with rank and name,” he said sternly.

Charger nodded again. “Of course, sorry, sir.”

“Now, tell me what happened from your perspective,” the prosecutor said.

Charger took a moment to gather his thoughts and find the best way to say them all. “Well… I was having a bit of difficulty taking out the containers since I had quite a few drones behind me, but I was managing. At least, I was until I took a hit from one of the drones. My instruments were all okay, though, so I carried on. That’s when I heard Lu- er… Lieutenant Atkinson cry out in shock. I tried to see what the issue was, but I couldn’t get close enough until our CO already told us.”

The prosecutor nodded along as Charger told his side. “So, you’re saying you didn’t see the moment that Lieutenant Atkinson fired the missiles that killed an Osean ground unit and an unknown number of civilians?” he asked.

“That’s correct,” Charger answered.

The prosecutor’s eyes narrowed speculatively. Lucas could practically see the gears turning in his mind. “And tell me, did you experience this ‘glitch’ in your HUD that Lieutenant Atkinson described?”

Charger shook his head. “No, sir,” he replied.

Lucas glanced at Charger. Usually, he had a lot more to say. Then again, so did Lucky. This whole situation had put everything on its head. Lucas understood why, but that still didn’t mean that he liked it. He would’ve preferred things go back to the way they were before, before the war, and before all this.

“Thank you. That’s all the questions I have for you at this time,” the prosecutor said. “Now, I’d like to ask some questions to Captain Haynes.”

Lucas took a deep breath in and out to steady himself. He didn’t want to lose his composure. “I’ll answer whatever questions you have for me,” he said calmly.

“Can you start by giving me your recollection of the events that transpired?” the prosecutor asked.

Lucas nodded. “Certainly. Although I’m sorry to say, my account is like that of Lieutenant Conley. I had my hands full dealing with the drones when suddenly I heard him scream, and that was it.”

The prosecutor again narrowed his eyes, so Lucas braced himself for some question that was just him summarizing what Lucas had just said. “So, you’re telling me that neither you, Lieutenant Atkinson’s squadron leader, nor Lieutenant Conley, the leader of his ‘team’ at the time, were near him when this act occurred?”

Lucas worked his hardest to keep himself from looking visibly angry. “Yes. In the sky, it’s often necessary to split up to cover more ground,” he explained.

“I see. Now, if I may ask, how would you describe Lieutenant Atkinson overall?” the prosecutor asked.

Lucas paused for a moment to think of what to say and wonder what he was up to. “Not only is he an exceptional pilot, but he’s a good kid. He’s got a good heart, and he always knows how to make all of us laugh. My squadron truly wouldn’t be the same without him.”

The prosecutor looked down at something on his desk. “I don’t suppose we could get testimony from the other three pilots in your squadron. Lieutenants White, Patton, and Kidd?”

Lucas shook his head. “No, they just got back from a combat operation a few hours ago, so they’re resting.” It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to have them here anyway. Diamond and Magic probably would’ve lost their cool easily.

“I see… Have you ever heard Lieutenant Atkinson express any sort of disdain for either the Osean or Erusean governments?”

Lucas narrowed his eyes. It felt like he was setting up for something, but what? “No. He rarely speaks negatively of anything now that I think about it.”

The prosecutor remained silent for a moment, thinking about something. “Now, I’m sure the jury is wondering what motives someone as innocent as Lieutenant Atkinson would have to do the things he is accused of.” He looked straight into his camera at Lucky. “Tell me something Lieutenant, your mother’s name is Valerie Atkinson, correct?”

Lucas narrowed his eyes. What did Lucky’s mother have to do with anything? He looked over at Lucky to see his reaction, only to notice him looking more tense than before. “Yes, that is her name,” Lucky answered.

“Well, are you aware of the fact that she is a pure blooded Belkan, and she also served in the Belkan Army?”

For a moment, Lucas just felt stunned more than anything. He had a hard time wrapping his head around what he just learned. Lucky was Belkan? Out of everyone he knew, Lucky was the last person Lucas would suspect of being Belkan. Lucky’s eyes displayed a level of anger rarely seen from him.

“As I’m sure I don’t need to remind anyone. Belka is responsible for detonating seven nuclear weapons in their own cities, so if that’s inside the realm of possibility, who’s to say this isn’t?” the prosecutor asked.

“My mother immigrated to Osea, and my father was born and raised in Osea, just like me!” Lucky snapped. “I’m not Belkan, I’m Osean. I always have been, and always will be.”

“Now that reaction, doesn’t quite match the description of Lieutenant Atkinson that Captain Haynes provided for us. Perhaps there’s a reason for that,” the prosecutor said.

Lucas slammed his fist on the desk. He couldn’t take this anymore. “Maybe that’s because you’re going after his family and making him out to be some sort of monster!” he snapped. “Lucky is a great pilot, and he has a great heart. He would _never_ do something like this. You bastards are just looking for someone to take the blame!”

“That’s enough, Captain Haynes!” the judge, who had been mostly silent up to this point, intervened. “I won’t ask again.”

“Uhm, your honor,” someone else said. “There’s someone from the OIA requesting to be added to the call.”

The judge was silent for a moment before finally grumbling something inaudible to Lucas. “Fine, bring him in.”

Another portrait appeared on the screen revealing a younger man with short, curly hair and glasses over his brown eyes. He had bit of a goatee as well. He was wearing a simple dress shirt and tie. “Hello everyone, my name is David North. I’m an OIA analyst from Advanced Weapons Analysis.”

“Tell me what exactly a weapons analyst has to do with a court martial?” the judge asked impatiently.

David adjusted his glasses. “My work has led me to a conclusion about Erusea’s capabilities, but I learned that an Osean pilot was being court-martialed because of what I learned, so I decided to step in and clear his name.”

“And what would this information be Analyst North?” the judge asked.

“After Erusea’s declaration of war on Osea, I learned that they managed to hack into half of Osea’s military satellites. These satellites manage, among other things, our radar and missile tracking. Meaning what Lieutenant Atkinson described would’ve been possible. Not to mention, my reports for when this satellite hack took place line up almost exactly with Operation Quick Fists.” 

The look on the prosecutor’s face turned from one of triumph to one of anger, and Lucas was reinvigorated with a sense of hope. Now, they had a chance.

The trial carried on for another hour or so. By then, Lucas was starting to get sick of it. The jury had split off for a while to come to a verdict, and everyone was anxiously awaiting their return. Lucas was nervous, but he had hope that Lucky would be found not guilty, which is more than he started with. Charger also seemed nervous, although he didn’t appear to the extent that Lucas or Lucky were. Finally, the jury returned.

“After reviewing the evidence brought before us, we have found Lieutenant Sean Atkinson not guilty as charged,” they finally said.

Lucas and Charger both hugged Lucky, and Charger ruffled his hair a bit. When this trial began, Lucas had no hope. He thought he had failed, and Lucky was going to get sentenced. And yet, here they were, celebrating Lucky’s innocence. The call ended shortly after and the three pilots all sat together for a moment.

“Real talk though, kid. How come you never told us you were half-Belkan?” Charger asked.

Lucky sighed and hesitated for a moment. “That’s exactly why. I didn’t want people thinking less of me because of where my mother came from. So please, do me a favor and don’t tell the others, okay?”

Lucas smiled at him. “Sure, Lucky. We understand, and if that’s what you want, we’ll respect that.”

Lucky looked up at him and gave Lucas a look of gratitude. “Thanks, Vortex.”

“Don’t worry about it. Now come on, I’m sure the others will be over the moon to hear the news,” Lucas said, standing up.

Luckily, the rest of the pilots in Nexus Squadron were already together in the mess hall. It didn’t take long for them to spot the three of them and they all immediately ran over to hear the results.

“And? What happened?” Diamond asked.

Lucky looked at them and grinned. “They found me innocent on all chargers,” he said happily.

Diamond was the first to wrap her arms around him in a tight hug, and the others did the same, even Lucas. For the first time since the war began, all of them felt genuinely happy, like nothing could possibly go wrong. Of course, things didn’t tend to go well for them. They all jumped in their skin at the sound of a blaring alarm over the intercom.

“This is a code red. All pilots, report to the briefing room immediately. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill,” Waller’s voice sounded more panicked than Lucas had ever heard it.

Immediately, every broke into a sprint as they made their way to the briefing room.

Waller’s first reaction to seeing Lucky was one of skepticism. “I assume the trial is over then?” he asked.

Lucas nodded. “He was found not guilty,” he explained.

“Well that’s perfect timing, because the mechanics just finished repairs on all the planes last night, so that means you’ll be going back to your regular formations,” Waller said, nodding to the Meteor Squadron pilots who were just entering. “No fancy briefing today, enemy fighters are inbound, get your asses in the air and take them out.”

Without another word, all twelve pilots made their way toward the hangar.

Lucas felt a wave of euphoria as he settled himself in the seat of his F/A-18. It had been weeks, nine days to be exact. But now that he was back in his plane, he felt like nothing could stop him, especially with his team at full force again. Domino and his team had just taken off, and now it was their turn. Slowly, Lucas and Charger rose up to the flight deck on the elevator. They taxied over to their positions and waited.

“Nexus 1, Nexus 2, you’re cleared for take-off. Go get them,” the control tower told them.

“Wilco, Nexus 1 and 2 taking off,” Lucas replied. With that, his plane shot forward with the help of the catapult, and before he knew it, he was airborne for the first time in nine days. This must have been what Diamond felt like during her first patrol. Lucas turned in the direction Meteor Squadron was heading and followed them at a slower speed. Not long after, Poet and Magic formed up behind them, and Lucky and Diamond brought up the rear. With everyone in formation, they accelerated as fast as they could to catch up to Meteor Squadron.

“Waller, this is Meteor 1. There’s two squadrons of enemy fighters on their way to the carrier, but we’re already engaging them,” Domino reported.

“Good work Meteor Squadron. Nexus Squadron, what’s your status?” Waller replied.

Lucas saw Meteor Squadron and the enemy fighters appear on his HUD. One squadron of Su-34s and another of MiG-31s. “We’ve got visual contact now, engaging,” he answered. “Alright everyone, let’s drive them back,” he told his squadron.

At that, they split up and engaged the enemy. Lucas set his sights on one of the Su-34s that was getting a little far from the rest, and Charger followed him. Out of the corner of his eye, Lucas spotted Diamond going full speed toward the group of MiG-31s. She quickly took one of them out as she approached and dove down to the water, only to pull up again and get behind another plane’s tail. Lucas had to admit that Diamond was certainly an excellent pilot, and her time flying under Domino seemed to do good for her. As soon as he had a lock on his target, Lucas fired two missiles at the Su-34. The pilot didn’t have a chance to maneuver, and was quickly engulfed in flames.

“Well, it certainly took you long enough,” Domino said in a jesting voice.

“Couldn’t let you have all the fun, Domino,” Lucas replied with a chuckle.

He was about to provide another quippy remark, but a missile alert in his cockpit cut him from his thoughts. Lucas quickly pulled all the way up until he had made a complete U-turn. After rolling his plane around to be right side up again, he saw his pursuer pass above him. Without hesitation, Lucas did another U-turn and found himself right behind the Su-34. This time, he opted to fire a QAAM, destroying the plane in one shot before he turned his attention elsewhere.

“Hey Magic, mind getting this guy off my tail? I’ve almost got the one in front of me,” Poet requested.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get him off your back for you,” Magic replied.

Lucas couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear with a sense of pride. His whole squadron was in top form, and they were going to give the Eruseans hell. He locked onto the last Su-34, only for a missile to come from behind him and destroy it first.

“Hey!” Lucas said indignantly.

He looked over his shoulder to see who it was that beat him to the kill, only to see Charger fly over his head.

“Sorry buddy, you snooze you lose,” he said.

“Tch, whatever. I’ll get you back for it,” Lucas replied.

“All aircraft, radar shows no sign of bandits. RTB,” Waller told them.

“Good work out there everyone,” Domino said. “Now let’s get back in time for chow.”


	10. Operation Photon Blitz

“Alright, I’ll keep this short and to the point,” Waller said as he logged into the terminal. “The sooner you’re up in the sky, the better.”

“Why the urgency?” Vortex asked.

“After what happened the other day, I don’t like the thought of you guys being gone for any period of time. The Eruseans could send more fighters to sink us at any time,” Waller explained.

“You worry too much, Waller. They can’t sink Kestrel II,” Charger chimed in.

“Actually, I agree with him,” Domino said. “In fact, one squadron should stay here just in case the ship does get attacked,” he suggested.

“Well, the mission shouldn’t be that challenging, so I think that’s a good idea. And since you so graciously volunteered, we’ll have Meteor Squadron stay behind on this sortie,” Waller said with a smirk.

“Great, nice going Domino,” Onyx groaned.

Waller started bringing the briefing back on track. “Alright, here’s the situation. Tomorrow, we’re launching our second strike on the capital of Farbanti. Today, however, Nexus Squadron is going to be taking the former IUPF airfield that Erusea has taken over. With that base clear of enemies, Erusea’s response to our attack tomorrow will be significantly delayed.”

The map of Usea on the screen zoomed in on a section of the map northeast of Farbanti, and satellite images of the airfield appeared on the screen.

“With the radar site taken care of, you’ll be able to get a lot closer before they see you coming, and we’re going to use that fact to our advantage,” he explained. “You’ll be hitting them with maximum aggression, going in low and fast and taking out their defenses before they have time to react. However, since we don’t have the ability to occupy the base, you’ll just be withdrawing once the mission is complete.”

“So, our plan is just ‘go in, shoot them, and go home’?” Magic asked.

“I mean to be fair, that’s basically what all of our plans are when you boil it down,” Eva chimed in.

Waller ignored both of them. “This shouldn’t be a difficult mission by any means. Intel reports that the airfield doesn’t have much of a garrison. You should have this mission done in no time, so get out there and get it done already.”

Nexus Squadron stood up and saluted Waller before walking out of the briefing room.

“Hey, so do you guys think that we’re gonna actually be able to take Farbanti this time around?” Poet asked as they walked through the hallways of the ship toward the hangar.

“Well, since we actually did stuff to prepare ourselves this time, I’d say we at least have a better chance than last time,” Magic said dryly.

“Yeah, I mean last time it’s like they didn’t even have a plan,” Eva added. She was still bitter about that mission. After all, it nearly resulted in Lucky getting court-martialed.

“High command probably just saw us near Farbanti and decided to throw us at them I don’t know what they were thinking,” Charger said, nodding his head in agreement.

Vortex, who had been quiet the whole time, finally spoke up. “There’s nothing we can do about what happened before. All we can do is give the Eruseans hell and end this war early.”

“Amen to that,” Lucky agreed. “The sooner this war is over, the better.”

While everyone seemed to agree that getting the war over sooner rather than later would be best, Eva wondered how easy that would prove to be. And also, what it would cost to get such a victory.

The flight, as usual, was awfully quiet. Although by now, Eva didn’t particularly mind it; it gave her a chance to clear her head before she threw herself into the fighting. She looked down at her instruments, and as was the case the last time she checked, everything was just fine. The radar contacts at the airbase were still some distance away, but Nexus Squadron was quickly approaching.

“You’re almost to the airbase,” Waller told them. “Lower your altitude and increase your speed. Give these guys everything you’ve got,” he instructed the pilots.

Vortex was the first to reply. “Roger that. We’ll make sure they don’t know what hit them,” he said before accelerating forward and pitching his plane down slightly.

Eva and the others followed his lead. She switched on her afterburners and watched as the speedometer on her HUD climbed, and her altimeter fell. Finally, the targets at the airbase appeared on everyone’s HUD. Just as Waller predicted, the base wasn’t very heavily occupied. The only defenses at the base consisted of only a few AA guns and SAM sites, and radar stations were positioned at either end of the runway.

“There it is,” Charger called out. “Let’s go get ‘em!” He sped forward toward the airfield.

Vortex chuckled a bit at Charger’s enthusiasm. “Alright, Nexus Squadron. Engage!” he ordered. “Let’s try and get back in time for lunch,” he added lightly.

Eva set her sights on the control tower. The sooner it was taken out, the better. She placed her finger on the trigger, ready to press down at a moment’s notice. The AA guns quickly noticed her and set her in their sights. Eva twisted and turned through the air, avoiding their fire and getting closer to her target. She found one of the SAM sites directly in front of her, and she was just about to temporarily switch targets to destroy it when Poet fired a single missile at it. With the SAM site down, Eva had a clear shot to the control tower. She found her lock and fired two missiles at it, bringing the whole tower down.

“Control tower is neutralized!” she reported.

“Good going, Diamond,” Vortex praised her. “Keep it up everyone.”

“Hey, it looks like we’ve got fighter’s taxying onto the runway,” Lucky announced.

“Well then, let’s deal with them before they can get airborne,” Magic chimed in.

Eva made a tight loop around and headed for the runway. “On it!”

She locked onto the first plane to reach the runway, an Su-37. The grounded fighter didn’t stand a chance as Eva lined up a machine gun run, and a short burst was all it took to destroy it.

“Nice work!” Lucky beamed. “Now it looks like the rest can’t take off, the wreckage is blocking the runway,” he observed.

“Good. One less thing for us to worry about,” Vortex said. “Now let’s take out the rest of these defenses and go home.”

“You guys better hurry up if you want any. Magic, Poet, and I have them all to ourselves over here,” Charger said with a laugh.  
“Here, you know what, I’m feeling generous today. I’ll let you guys have some. I’ve taken out plenty already,” Magic offered.

“You’re too kind, Magic,” Eva joked as she fired a missile at the last standing radar tower. “But I’ll gladly take you up on that.”

She made a hard turn to the right until she was fully turned around. With the last SAM site destroyed by Poet, all that was left was a single AA gun right in front of Eva. She watched as her missiles gracefully glided through the air until they made contact with their target.

“Waller, this is Nexus 1. The airfield is clear of hostiles,” Vortex reported.

“Copy that head back to- hold it,” Waller cut himself off and there was a brief pause. “Nexus Squadron, you’ve got enemy aircraft approaching your position at high speed, bearing 165,” he warned them. “They’re drones by the look of it.”

“More drones?” Poet grumbled. “Just how many do they have?”

“Let’s just deal with them,” Eva said, already turning toward the new blips on her radar. “Besides, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m getting used to dogfighting with these things.”

“Diamond’s right,” Vortex chimed in. “The sooner we deal with them, the sooner we can head back.”

The MQ-99s were moving straight in a line, and at first, Eva thought they would be easy pickings. But just as she got within range to lock on, they all broke formation rather suddenly and engaged the six F/A-18s. Eva followed one of the drones on the outside of the formation as it went higher into the sky. She had a lock on her target, but she knew it would miss if she fired now. Instead, she elected to get closer, making it much easier as she fired a missile at it from behind. Eva broke off from the explosion and looked around for her next target. She quickly spotted Lucky tailing a UAV, seemingly unaware of the fact that three more were coming up behind him.

“Lucky, enemies on your six!” she warned him. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to get ‘em off you.”

She switched to her special weapons and fired a QAAM at two of the three drones. Both were unable to outmaneuver the missiles and were destroyed, leaving Eva free to focus on the last one. She fired a standard missile at the drone, but it couldn’t find its mark and sailed right past the drone. She lined herself up with her target and fired a machine gun burst, but only a few shots found their mark. Just as she was about to pass it, she dropped her speed and did a high-G turn to her left, which resulted in her getting right behind the drone. She quickly finished it off with another machine gun burst and broke off to find another target.

“Thanks Diamond, I owe you,” Lucky said, breathing a sigh of relief as he destroyed the drone he was chasing.

“Damn, four down already, Diamond?” Charger exclaimed. “You’re on fire today.”

“You should’ve seen her during the last sortie,” Magic chimed in. “She was practically unstoppable.”

Vortex chuckled a bit. “So, I’ve heard. Domino told me all about it.”

Eva didn’t reply. She never knew what to say when getting praise. The number of drones on her radar was quickly dropping, so she decided to help speed up the process. She fired another QAAM at a drone and spun around, making her way to the next closest target. She was still out of range, but Vortex beat her to it.

“Is that all of them?” Poet asked.

“Looks like there’s one more heading for the airfield,” Eva observed, looking down at her radar.

“That’s no drone, it’s a transport craft,” Lucky realized.

“The people still at the airfield must’ve called in an evac,” Vortex guessed. “Hold your fire. There’s no honor in shooting retreating troops. Waller, we’re on our way back.”

“Copy that Nexus 1. Good work,” Waller replied.

Vortex started making his way back to the carrier, and the rest of the squadron formed up behind them as they flew home.

The sun was beginning to emerge from behind the horizon, covering the water in a shimmering orange light. The mess hall was largely empty, save for the pilots of Nexus and Meteor Squadron, who were all sitting with each other, joking and laughing.

“Come on, that was one time, Torch!” Charger quipped. “Are you ever going to let me live that down?”

Torch shook his head with a smirk. “Nope. It’s too funny of a story.”

Charger waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah, well you don’t have much room to talk. Since apparently I have to remind you of the time you told our CO to kiss your ass.”

Vortex practically died of laugher. “I remember that!” he said, wheezing. “Oh my god he was so mad at you. It’s a miracle you didn’t get NJP’d on the spot.”

“I’m gonna be honest, I cannot see you doing that, Torch,” Onyx chimed in. “But the thought of it happening is just so funny.”

“You know Vortex… If my memory serves me right, I believe you’ve got plenty of embarrassing stories in your name,” Domino grinned.

The eyes of each Nexus Squadron pilot lit up, eager at the thought of hearing an embarrassing story about their squadron leader.

“Well now you’ve got to tell us at least one,” Lucky said. “You can’t just leave us hanging like that.”

Domino looked over at Vortex with a mischievous grin. “Now that you mention it, there is one story that I think Vortex would love if I told you.”

“Nexus Squadron and Meteor Squadron, please report the briefing room,” Waller unknowingly interrupted them over the PA.

“Huh, saved by the bell I guess,” Domino said, nudging Vortex’s shoulder. “I’ll tell you guys when we get back.”

With that, all twelve pilots stood up and made their way to the briefing room.

“Today is the day,” Waller said. “We’re gonna end this damn war.”

He powered up the terminal, which was announced by the three beeps that always accompanied it. The map of Usea covered the screen, and the terminal quickly synced with the satellite data, displaying friendly and enemy territory.

“After Erusea’s declaration of war, we lost many of our aircraft carriers. However, we’re not the only one that made it out. The aircraft carrier Vulture was also at sea, however, it lost all of its aircraft.

A dot on the map appeared in the waters of Eastern Usea labeled “Vulture”.

“Today, we are going to be half of a two-pronged attack on Erusea. The Fort Grays Island Air Base Squadron will be linking up with Vulture and reclaiming the Space Elevator in Gunther Bay. Although, they will first be seizing air superiority in Chopinburg to secure their route.”

A small dotted line started moving from Fort Grays Island to Vulture, and then the Vulture started moving southwest to Gunther Bay.

“While they’re securing the Space Elevator, we’re going to be launching our attack on Farbanti,” Waller continued as the map zoomed in on Farbanti. “The strategy is the same as before. Meteor Squadron will maintain air superiority while Nexus Squadron engages targets on the ground. We will also move Kestrel II as close as we can to provide additional covering fire. With the capital under our control, as well as the Space Elevator, Erusea will have no choice but to surrender.” Waller paused for a moment. “However, we recently received new intel. As you’re all aware, Erusea has been dispatching MQ-99 UAVs in their attacks against us. Now, we believe they have a newer, more advanced drone, the MQ-101.” A picture of the new drone appeared on the screen. “We also have reason to believe that the unmanned airborne aircraft carriers, Arsenal Birds, have been captured by Erusea. However, it’s unlikely that they have them combat-ready. When they are, though, it is likely that they will be carrying these new drones. All the same, be on the lookout for MQ-101s, but don’t let them stop you. Now, everyone to your planes. We’ve got a war to end.”

Both squadrons of pilots stood up and saluted the Captain before filing out of the briefing room. However, as the last one out, Eva noticed heard something behind her. She briefly turned around and saw Waller humming some sort of tune. She recognized the sound, but she couldn’t quite place her finger on what it was. Regardless, she turned and headed out the door, quick to catch up with her squadron.

As soon as the elevator took them up, Eva and Lucky taxied to their positions and waited for the signal to launch. As her engines spooled up, Eva couldn’t help but feel a sense of closure. It felt like it had been weeks since the war began. She couldn’t wait to go back home. Her mother was probably worried sick, but at least she’d have plenty of stories to tell.

“Nexus 5, Nexus 6, you’re cleared for takeoff. We’ll see you in Farbanti,” the Control Tower told them.

“Roger that Tower,” Eva replied. “We’ll try to save some action for you guys,” she added with a smirk.

And with that, both planes shot forward off the catapults and into the sky. The got into formation with the rest of the two squadrons, and with their landing gear up, engines primed, and missiles ready, they headed to Farbanti.


	11. Operation Dual Wielder

“There it is, Farbanti is dead ahead,” Vortex said. “Alright everyone, let’s give ‘em hell, but remember to keep yourselves safe out there.”

“Yeah. Let’s try to shoot for no causalities,” Domino added. “I don’t want to see anyone pulling any of that ‘heroic sacrifice’ bullshit so watch each other’s backs.”

“Waller, we’ve arrived at Farbanti and we’re engaging now. What’s your ETA?” Vortex asked.

“We’re not far behind,” Waller answered. “We’ll be there in about three minutes.”

“Sounds good to me. Nexus Squadron, let’s go engage these ground targets,” Vortex commanded.

With that, he rolled onto his side and started heading for the surface, with the rest of the squadron right behind him. Eva set her sights on her first target, an APC, and started lining up the shot. She made a low and fast approach, like she did with the aegis vessels, and fired a single missile at it. With no time to react or counter, the APC didn’t stand a chance and was blown to bits. Eva pulled up into the sky turned toward her next target. She came straight down at a SAM site directly above it, only to pull up at the last second as she destroyed it.

“Diamond, missile inbound, evade!” Poet’s warning came immediately as her radar started beeping.

She looked down at her radar and saw a missile coming at her from another SAM site. The missile approached slowly at first but was starting to pick up speed. Eva watched as it got closer and closer, only to pull up at the last minute and move into a 180. The missile didn’t have time to react and lost its lock, sailing off into the distance before exploding midair. With the missile off her tail, Eva set her sights on the SAM site that fired it. As with most ground targets, it didn’t stand much of a chance against her.

“Thanks for heads up, Poet,” she said gratefully.

“Don’t sweat it,” Poet replied, flying right over Eva’s head.

“Hey, it looks like we’ve got some tanks moving into the park,” Charger observed.

“Good eye, Charger. You wanna deal with them?” Vortex asked.

“Sure. Diamond, Magic, mind giving me a hand?” Charger questioned the two pilots.

Eva quickly located Charger’s position and formed up behind him, and Magic did the same. “We’re with you,” she told him.

Together, the three pilots turned in unison toward the reconstruction park. A group of about ten tanks was moving down the road, and a few APCs and AA guns were accompanying them. Eva set her sights on the tank bringing up the rear, lining herself straight up with the tank and firing two missiles directly at it. The AA guns took aim at her and tried their best to bring her down, although they didn’t have much success. Eva even managed to take one of them out with her machine guns in the same pass. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the others had the same success. All it took them was two more passes and the whole group was taken out.

“Vortex, enemies heading to the park have been taken out,” Charger reported.

“Nice work you three,” Vortex praised them. “Link back up with the rest of us. We’re gonna deal with the targets at the Silver Bridge.”

“Roger that,” Charger replied, turning to regroup with the other half of Nexus Squadron.

“This is Kestrel II, we’re arriving now,” Waller cut in. “What’s the status?”

“We’re still dealing with a few pesky fighters, but for the most part, we’ve got air superiority,” Domino reported.

“Good, keep it up and deal with those last fighters,” Waller said, sounding pleased. “Nexus Squadron?”

“We’re doing good as well,” Vortex informed Waller. “I doubt they’ll be able to put up a fight for much longer,” he added.

“Good. Everything is going to plan then.” Waller rarely showed this level of content in his voice. “All aircraft, continue your current objectives. At this rate, Farbanti will be ours by the end of the hour.”

“Out of curiosity, Waller, have we heard anything from the Fort Grays Squadron?” Charger asked.

“They’re engaging enemy aircraft in Chopinburg, but that’s all I know,” Waller told them. “They should have a clear route to the Space Elevator soon.”

Eva felt a wave of relief rush over her. The thought of putting all of this behind her in just a few short hours made her jittery, but she didn’t let that distract her from the job she had to do. As Nexus Squadron approached the Silver Bridge, Eva’s eyes were drawn to a pair of missile boats heading for Kestrel II. She turned to engage them without hesitation. They were just outside of her range, but they still had some distance between them and Kestrel II, so she still had time. As she approached, she tipped her nose down to lower her altitude, putting even less distance between herself and the missile boats. They were small, but not very agile, meaning they didn’t stand much of a chance against her missiles.

“Waller, this is Meteor 1. All enemy aircraft are down. The skies are ours,” he reported.

“Excellent news Meteor 1!” Based on the tone in his voice, it sounded as if Waller had a grin from ear to ear on his face. “Stand by until Nexus Squadron completes their objective.”

“Evidently, you won’t have to wait for very long, because we just took out the last of the ground defenses,” Vortex chimed in. “So, what happens now?”

“Now comes the fun part. We’re going to radio the Erusean Military HQ and rub it in their faces that we won,” Waller said.

Eva felt her heart racing. It was over, they had control of the capital. After what felt like months, they finally did it. All the effort they had put in had finally paid off.

“Erusean Military HQ, this is the OFS Kestrel II of the International Union Peacekeeping Force,” Waller announced on an open radio channel. “Your capital is defenseless, surrender now,” he ordered.

There was a long pause as everyone waited in silence, hoping for some kind of reply, but nothing came.

“Any Erusean forces that can hear this message, inform your superiors to surrender,” Waller repeated.

Eva felt a strange feeling creeping up her spine as they received no answer yet again. Surely someone heard them, it was an open channel. The Eruseans had no reason to ignore their transmissions. At least, that’s what Eva thought.

“Wait a second,” Waller said, switching back to their radio channel. All traces of joy in his voice had vanished. “Meteor Squadron, one bogey approaching your position. They’re coming in straight from the east at high speeds.”

“One bogey?” Domino echoed. “Is it a drone?”

Waller paused before he answered. “Negative, I’m not sure what it is. Stay on your toes.” Waller’s voice now had genuine concern.

Eva looked down at her radar, and sure enough, there was one enemy contact heading straight for Meteor Squadron. Waller wasn’t wrong, it really was fast, moving at 3500 km/h at least. After a few seconds, it was already almost to their position. Eva waited with anticipation to hear what would happen next. But after a few seconds, she wished she hadn’t.

“What the hell? It’s on my tail! I can’t-.” Domino’s voice was cut off by static.

“Domino? Domino!” Torch cried out. “Domino’s down, what the hell is this thing?”

Eva could hear the strain in his voice, but she didn’t blame him. She had a hard time believing it herself. Domino was gone? Just like that? Although, she didn’t have long to dwell on it.

“Meteor 3, he’s behind you!” Onyx warned.

“He’s too fast I’m hit!” More static followed the pilot’s voice.

“Meteor 5, shake that missile!” Another voice cut in.

“Damn!” Another pilot cut off by static.

“Meteor Squadron, tell me what’s happening damn it!” Waller barked.

“We’re up against some kind of fighter. I’ve never seen anything like it. Meteor 1, 3, and 5 are all down!” Torch reported.

“Shit! Meteor 2, take up command. Nexus Squadron, support Meteor Squadron, now!” Waller ordered.

“You don’t even have to ask. This bastard’s gonna pay for killing Domino!” Charger growled, already turning toward the remains of Meteor Squadron. Vortex formed up on his wing.

“Alright, listen. Our goal needs to be to get between this guy, and Meteor Squadron. Charger and I will keep him busy, the rest of you, get Meteor Squadron behind you, and don’t engage this guy under any circumstances.”

“Roger that,” Eva replied. “Lucky, let’s go give Torch a hand.”

“Right behind you, Diamond,” Lucky replied.

The two pilots circled around Torch as he withdrew from the area, while Magic and Poet covered the other two. They were nearly to the carrier, when Eva felt her heart skip a beat.

“Damn it, I’m hit!” Charger said, a hint of panic in his tone. “My right thruster is out, but I’m still flying,” he insisted.

“You won’t be for much longer if you don’t break off!” Vortex ordered. “Go, I’ll lure him away from you.”

At that moment, Eva felt a rush of emotions, and none of them were good. One thing was certain though. She knew what she had to do, whether Vortex approved or not. She had to try and help. She turned 180 degrees and switched on her afterburners. She could only feel herself get more desperate as Vortex spoke again.

“Shit, he hit me! My engines aren’t getting any more thrust,” Vortex reported.

Finally, Eva was in range of this mystery fighter. The second she got a lock, she fired two standard missiles. To her surprise, one of them hit, but the fighter showed no signs that it had any significant impact. The fighter pitched straight up into the sky, and Eva followed without hesitation.

“Diamond, what are you doing? Break off now! I told you not to engage.” There was more concern in Vortex’s voice than when he got hit.

“Just get back to the carrier, Vortex! I’ll hold him off,” Eva snapped. She refused to let anyone else die today. Not on her watch.

While Eva tried her best to match the fighter’s movements to stay on their tail, it wasn’t easy. This fighter was faster and more agile. They made an incredibly sharp turn to the right and looped around, getting behind Eva’s plane and firing missiles as soon as they had a lock. Eva deployed flares to break the missiles’ lock and made a high-G turn of her own, but it didn’t get the fighter off of her tail. She kept herself going a straight line just long enough for the fighter to do the same thing. Then, she pulled the maneuver that she learned from Domino, dropping her speed and bringing her nose straight up. Just as she predicted, the plane flew right past her.

It was then that Eva finally got a good look at the plane she had been fighting. It definitely didn’t look like any aircraft she had ever seen. It had a slim design and was painted white with an orange trim. What caught Eva’s attention, though, was the emblem on its tail. It had two zeroes crossing with each other to make what almost looked like a strange eight.

“That must be your name then… Zero,” Eva muttered to herself. “Time for some payback.”

She fired a QAAM and followed up with a machine gun burst. Zero rolled as both attacks hit, yet they were still flying. As much as Eva hated them, she had to admit that they could definitely take a hit.

“Diamond, what’s your status?” Lucky asked in a concerned voice.

Eva could feel herself panting heavily, up to that point she had barely even noticed. “I’m fine, for now anyways,” she answered.

Suddenly, Eva was caught completely off-guard as Zero pulled the same maneuver she did, putting them behind her. Her missile warning went off as soon as Zero’s plane straightened out. She rolled and banked right to evade the missile, but she wasn’t fast enough. Her heart skipped a beat as she heard a loud crash on the right side of her plane.

“Crap, he got me. I’m hit!” Eva reported, feeling panic set in.

She went straight down and looped back up, trying simply to shake Zero off her tail at this point. However, almost immediately, she felt her plane was much less responsive to turns. Then, Eva heard a low humming sound that she instantly recognized as machine guns. She looked up and saw Lucky scoring several hits on Zero.

“What, you thought I was just gonna leave you here with this guy?” Lucky asked in an attempt at a light-hearted tone.

At first, Eva felt another wave of concern, worried that Lucky might get hurt too, but more than anything she felt relief. “I’m having trouble turning. Can you see any damage on my plane? How bad is it?” she asked.

“Diamond, I don’t want to alarm you or anything, so just stay calm, but your right wing is basically gone,” Lucky answered.

There was no way she could dogfight with one wing. “Shit, alright we need to get out of here,” she said urgently.

“No need,” Vortex cut in. “It looks like the fighter is withdrawing,” he observed.

Eva looked around and realized Zero was nowhere to be found. She looked down at her radar and saw them going back the way they came.

“I wouldn’t celebrate yet. Another, much larger, aircraft is approaching,” Waller said.

“What else could they possibly have to throw at us?” Poet asked.

After a few brief moments, everyone got their answer. A massive white shape broke through the clouds. It was long and thin, lined with propellors. Everyone knew what it was the moment they saw it, but nobody wanted to be the first to say it.

“Is that…” Onyx tried to be the one to do it, but he didn’t finish.

“It’s the Arsenal Bird,” Torch finally said.

Small white shapes dropped from under the Arsenal Bird’s wings. They all stopped mid-air and spun before accelerating forward. They were MQ-101s, they had to be, and about 30 were heading right for nine pilots. To their surprise though, as the drones approached, they flew right past all of them, and instead made their way to the water.

“They’re going for the carrier!” Eva realized. “We’ve gotta get out of here.”

“No,” Torch said decisively. “You guys go and defend the carrier. We’ll slow down the Arsenal Bird.”

“Are you crazy?” Charger asked, baffled that Torch would even suggest such a thing. “You won’t even last five minutes.”

“We’re all still able to fly. Most of you are damaged,” Torch said. “Besides, some time is better than none at all,” he added solemnly. “Now go!”

After a moment of silence, Vortex was the one to speak. “Waller, you’ve got MQ-101s inbound. Nexus Squadron is on our way to get you out of here,” he explained.

Eva had a hard time turning back toward Kestrel II with only one wing. She had to make an extremely wide turn, but Lucky stayed with her the whole way.

“Magic, Poet, you two need to hold those drones off. Charger and I will do what we can, but there’s only so much we can do in damaged planes,” Vortex ordered.

“Wilco. We’ll do what we can,” Poet replied.

Eva couldn’t bear to watch as she saw the last three pilots of Meteor Squadron moving toward the Arsenal Bird on her radar. She knew what was going to happen, and she was sure they did too, but she couldn’t bear it.

“What the hell is that, a laser?” One of the pilots asked.

“Meteor 4, evade, now!” Onyx cried out, but it was too late. The pilot’s cry for help was cut off and replaced by static.

“Damn, Meteor 4 is down,” Torch muttered. “Come on Onyx. It’s just you and me. We need to buy as much time as we can.”

Finally, Eva and Lucky regrouped with the others. Lucky broke off to help Magic and Poet with the drones, while Eva was just doing her best to stay airborne. Although, she still did what she could against the drones. As she made a pass, she fired QAAMs at two drones and made another long turn around.

“Damn it. These guys are definitely more agile than the last drones,” Magic exclaimed. “I’ve already taken several hits.”

“Same here,” Poet replied. “In all honesty, I don’t know if I’ll be flying much longer.”

“Just hang in there everyone,” Vortex said urgently. “We’re almost out of this.”

“What’s that light coming from the Arsenal Bird?” Onyx asked suddenly.

“Quick, break off now!” Torch cried out.

“Shit, I’m breaking up!” Onyx’s voice was replaced by static, just like all the others.

Torch sighed heavily. “Meteor 6 is down. The arsenal bird as some kind of shield. I can’t get close,” he explained.

There was a few more moments where everyone was silent, focusing on whatever it is they were doing, for most, staying alive.

“I just wanted to say,” Torch spoke up again. Eva could hear an alarm in the background. “It’s been an honor flying with you Nexus Squadron.”

The static that followed his voice confirmed his fate, and the rest of Meteor Squadron along with it. They were gone, all of them. Eva felt herself taking incredibly shaky breaths. She still didn’t understand how everything went so wrong in such a short amount of time. They were just about to take the capital, and now they had lost half their pilots, and all but one of the others were damaged and barely flying. Little did Eva know, that it was about to get worse.

“Waller, look out! Missiles are headed your way.” Lucky’s voice jolted Eva back to reality, and she watched with horror as he dove down to the water and took a missile for the carrier. He managed to stay flying, unfortunately, several other missiles found their original target.

“Kestrel II just took several missile hits,” Waller reported.

“Waller, we need to go _now_!” Vortex insisted. “We’re all flying damaged, and I don’t know how much longer everyone’s going to be flying.”

Eva could feel her heart pounding in her chest as everyone waited for Waller’s response. “No,” he finally said. “It’s us the drones are after. We’ll draw them out to sea, you six need to leave, fly away as fast as you can.”

“What are you talking about? Where would we go?” Charger asked.

“The airfield, go to the airfield,” Waller answered, alarms blaring in the background. “This isn’t up for debate, so move! All hands, full speed ahead, get us going out to sea!” he bellowed.

Vortex let out a heavy sigh. “Everyone, form up on me, we’re withdrawing,” he said begrudgingly.

The six banged up planes did their best to get into formation, with Eva having to bring up the rear, and they all headed northeast. Thanks to Waller, and everyone else aboard Kestrel II, they were able to slip away without resistance.

“Nexus Squadron, do me a favor,” Waller said.

“Yeah? What is it?” Vortex replied.

“Win,” Waller said decisively.

After another minute or so Eva heard Waller’s voice again, only this time, he was humming. It was the same tune she heard him humming after the briefing. She looked over her shoulder, hopeful that perhaps they made it out alright. Instead, she saw a chain of explosions across Kestrel II’s hull, and finally, one large explosion directly in the center of the ship. Kestrel II, the ship that had been essentially been her home for a month, was now being swallowed up by the sea. It was then that the gravity of the situation truly weighed down on her. They started out with a whole aircraft carrier, and now, all that remained was six pilots, all in damaged planes. All of Meteor Squadron died in one operation, as did their hope of ending the war. Eva could feel her heart pounding, her hands sweating, and she hadn’t noticed until now that she had been crying. She felt like she could barely breathe, but she didn’t say a word to the others. They just continued on in silence, because they all knew what just happened: they lost.


	12. Zero

Jacob couldn’t help but feel impressed at how fast this new model could go. Whoever it was that was making these planes, they were doing a hell of a good job. The speed and maneuverability were top notch. Although, it would be nice if it carried more missiles. They were still working out the weaponry of the plane, so they went with a low count of missiles and some QAAMs, a rather standard setup. Of course, despite Jacob’s grievances, he was probably putting in a bit more enthusiasm than normal, since he was finally going to see some actual combat instead of just flight tests.

“To any allied units, this is Zero of Project Skyshard. Does anyone read me?” he asked into the radio. He wasn’t picking any allies up on radar yet, so he hoped he wasn’t too late.

“I guess the rumors of the Mercenary Ace are true then,” a voice replied. “I’ll admit, you sound younger than I expected. This is the Erusean Military HQ.”

Jacob blinked. He wasn’t sure that he would consider 25 to be young, but he digressed. “I’m nearly to the AO, what’s the situation?” he asked.

“An Osean aircraft carrier came in not too long ago, launching two squadrons of carrier-based aircraft,” HQ explained. “They already took out all of the ground units in the area, so you’ll be on your own. I’m sure you can take them all out, though.”

“Sorry, but I’ve got orders, and they’re not to shoot them all down. I’m just here to buy some time and to test this aircraft. Don’t worry, though, I won’t let the capital fall,” Jacob replied.

No reply came from HQ, so Jacob simply took that as an acceptance, and just in time, as the enemy aircraft started showing up on his HUD. As they said, it was two squadrons, both comprised entirely of F/A-18s, although one was farther away than the other. Jacob set his sights on the closest group of fighters. Just because he wasn’t there to shoot them all down doesn’t mean he couldn’t shoot _some_ of them down. Besides, the eggheads back at the base would probably have a field day with the flight data. He switched to his QAAMs and set his sights on what appeared to be the lead bird. The missiles found their lock almost instantly, and Jacob fired two of them. To the pilot’s credit, they did manage to evade one of the two QAAMs, despite being taken completely off-guard. However, they weren’t able to evade the second. With their lead bird down, the rest of the planes scattered, which gave Jacob the perfect opportunity to deal with the rest of them. One plane decided to make a 180 degree turn and fly away, so he accelerated to close the gap between them. Once he got right behind the pilot, all it took was two standard missiles to bring them down. After that, he turned straight up into the sky and rolled onto his side to make a sharp left turn toward the next closest target, who was going right for him. They already had a lock on him, and fired a missile, but they weren’t quick enough to dodge Jacob’s QAAMs. Jacob made a high-G turn to the right to evade the missile, which didn’t have nearly enough maneuverability to keep up with him.

“Man, this thing works like a charm. Three aircraft down in under two minutes, maybe I should take them all out,” Jacob pondered.

However, he didn’t have long to dwell on it, as machine-gun fire shook his plane. None of it did any significant damage, it was done simply to get his attention, which it did. The pilot who shot at him flew right over his head, and Jacob immediately turned to follow. The plane he was now pursuing twisted and turned several times before breaking off, and it was then that he realized this pilot was acting as bait. Jacob looked down at his radar and saw the other squadron of fighters heading straight for him, with two planes flying much faster toward him than the other four. He shrugged and turned to face them head-on, deciding to humor them. After all, none of them would be flying for very long anyway.

After a few minutes or so, Jacob was actually impressed by these pilots. Although they were both skilled, one was clearly more experienced than the other, and the second pilot was much more aggressive than the first. Suddenly, Jacob put the pieces together. The more aggressive pilot must have been trying to avenge the pilots that he just shot down. Jacob felt a flicker of sympathy inside of him. At one time, he was in this pilot’s same situation, so part of him felt bad about pulling the trigger. But he didn’t dwell too much on it. After all, this was war, not to mention he wasn’t going to let anything or anyone stand between him and his paycheck. Impressively enough, however, the first pilot managed to stay flying after taking a missile hit, although he broke off right after. With their wingman gone, the second pilot was much easier to deal with, although they still put up quite a fight. All Jacob could do was get in quick machine-gun bursts, but they seemed to be doing quite a bit of damage, as smoke started pouring out from the pilot’s thrusters. Suddenly, Jacob was caught completely off-guard by a missile warning. Another pilot had crept up on him and fired two missiles. He only barely managed to evade the first missile, but the second one crashed into him, shaking his plane. Jacob quickly scanned over the displays in his cockpit for errors and let out a sigh of relief when he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“Damn, I didn’t think this would be able to tank a missile shot like that,” he said, impressed by the capabilities of his plane. “Let’s see if this one can push this thing to its limits.”

Jacob accelerated straight up, and to his surprise, the new pilot followed right behind him. He made several twists and turns through the sky in an attempt to get them off his tail, which worked for the most part, but they did an admittedly good job staying behind him, not for long, though. He made a high-G turn and looped around the F/A-18 with ease to get behind them, and as soon as he had a lock, he fired two QAAMs. The pilot was quick to respond, though, as they deployed flares and made a sharp turn to the left. It was what happened next, however, that caught Jacob off-guard. Their plane dropped speed dramatically as they pitched their nose upward, almost coming to a complete stop and allowing Jacob to fly right past him.

Jacob turned around and looked back with a sort of admiration. “You’re quite the pilot,” he muttered to himself. “I’ll admit, it’s going to be a shame to have to shoot you down.”

However, he had bigger concerns, as they had just fired a missile followed by a machine-gun burst. Jacob tried to evade, but both attacks hit their marks. He once again looked down at his HUD to check for errors. His plane was showing minimal damage, but it would add up if he kept this up. He needed to finish this. He made the same maneuver that the pilot had just made, lowering his speed. As the F/A-18 soared past him, he quickly studied the plane. It didn’t look too out of the ordinary, but there was a personalized emblem on the tail; some sort of crystal. Jacob didn’t think too much about it, though. As soon as he straightened his plane out, he fired a standard missile at them. It quickly found its target, although the plane was remarkably still flying. However, its right wing had fallen off. Jacob looked down at his radar. The Arsenal Bird was just about to enter the AO, which meant it was his time to withdraw, and just in time too, as another F/A-18 had come back and landed several significant hits with machine guns.

“Erusean HQ, my mission objective is complete, I’m pulling out,” Jacob informed them. “But I’m leaving you in capable hands,” he added with a smirk.

He broke off from the two F/A-18s and turned back the way he came. As he flew away, he felt a bit of regret. It was a shame to have to shoot down a talented pilot like that, but even if landing with one wing didn’t kill them, the Arsenal Bird surely would. It was safe to say that they weren’t going to be making it out. This almost disappointed Jacob, but he shook the thoughts out of his head and headed home.

Deep inside Erusean territory, a small airfield in the clearing of a forest remained largely hidden from the world. While the airfield itself was small, its facilities definitely were not. Quite frankly, it was nothing short of a miracle that it was able to stay hidden the way it did. Up in the control tower, there were several people performing various tasks, except for one. An older man, with thinning brown hair and glasses dressed in a lab coat, stood with his hands in his pockets looking out the window. On his coat, there was a badge with a picture of his face that read, “Doctor Adrian Francis.” Suddenly, Adrian’s eyes flicked over to a white shape cutting through the clear blue skies.

“There you are,” he muttered under his breath.

As the white shape came closer, its features became more apparent. It went from nothing more than a white blob to an advanced fighter plane prototype, Adrian’s pride and joy. While a small, ever-increasing faction in Erusea’s military believed they could win the war simply with their advanced drone technology, some were skeptical. In order to keep them in favor of the war, this radical party started Project Skyshard. Erusea wanted this war to be a sure win for them, so in order to ensure that, they wanted to develop a new fighter that would give them a technological edge; the Skyshard, as Adrian called it. Although, its proper name was the XFA-30. Based on the designs of the XFA-27 built by the Usean Allied Forces many years back, the XFA-30 Skyshard had turned out better than Adrian could’ve ever hoped it would, and it was still just a prototype. Perhaps someday his creation would grow to rival even the infamous X-02 Wyvern. Although, Adrian owed a great deal of the success in the Skyshard’s development to their test pilot, Zero. Without such a skilled pilot at the controls providing such detailed data, the project wouldn’t be as far ahead as it was. However, as Adrian watched Zero come in for a landing, concern flashed in his eyes as he saw smoke trailing behind his plane. Adrian walked out the door of the control room and down toward the runway without hesitation.

By the time Adrian reached the runway, Zero had already landed and taxied over to the hangar. After following the pilot inside, Adrian saw him climbing down from the plane.

“What happened?” Adrian asked, looking at the plane while he approached Zero.

Zero jumped off the last rung of the ladder onto the stone floor where lowered his oxygen mask and took off his helmet, revealing his black, slicked-back hair and green eyes.

He scowled as he saw Adrian was clearly worried about the plane than him. “Gee, it’s nice to see you too,” he said dryly.

“What. Happened?” Adrian repeated, clearly not in the mood for Zero’s sarcasm.

Zero rolled his eyes. “There were quite a few skilled pilots. I took care of them, though, so there’s nothing to worry about,” he explained.

“Nothing to worry about?!” Adrian echoed in disbelief. “Look at the plane!” He gestured to the bullet holes and blast marks from missiles.

“I completed my mission and acquired data in the process. You’re making it sound like that’s a bad thing,” Zero replied.

“It is a bad thing if it means screwing up the plane. This could take weeks to repair.” Adrian sighed. It was pointless to argue. “You said the mission was complete,” he asked, changing the topic.

Zero nodded. “Yes. I bought time for the Arsenal Bird and it was engaging the Kestrel II as I left,” he answered.

Adrian couldn’t help but crack a small smile. “Excellent. This’ll send a clear message to those pompous Osean bastards that we’re not to be messed with.”

“I don’t give a damn about your politics,” Zero snapped. “Just give me my money.”

“It’s already been transferred to your account,” Adrian said. “Now in your opinion, how do you think this new model performed?”

“Well it was fast and maneuverable, definitely more so than the last one. The only thing I think it’s lacking in is weapons,” Zero explained.

Adrian made a mental note of Zero’s comments. “Excellent. We’ll review the flight data and make adjustments as needed. For now, get some rest.”

Zero nodded and stepped out of the hangar, and Adrian watched him leave. When his superiors first said they wanted to hire a mercenary pilot to be their test pilot for the Skyshard, he was strongly against it. It made no sense to him that they would hire someone driven by money for such a secret project, but then he took a look at Zero’s record. Apart from his outstanding combat record for someone his age, Zero was remarkably dedicated to those who hired him. On a previous job, his entire squadron defected except for him and one of his wingmen. The two pilots shot all three planes down and completed the rest of their job. Zero’s wingman apparently got shot down during another operation, so he was flying solo now. Adrian sighed, looking back over to the damaged plane.

“Well, I guess the mechanics are going to have some work to do,” he said to the empty hangar. “So am I,” he added.

He climbed up into the cockpit of the plane and started putting the data from the flight onto a USB drive and waited, sitting in the empty hangar in the cockpit of the plane he designed.


	13. Aftermath

Dusk was beginning to fall over the land as six F/A-18s, all leaving a trail of smoke behind them, slowly approached the airfield they had cleared out only the day before. Although by now, it felt like an eternity ago. One by one, each pilot landed, all with some form of difficulty, and it wasn’t made any easier by the Su-37 wreck still blocking the other end of the runway. Out of all them, though, Eva had it the worst. In addition to the fact that she could barely breathe, she had to make two passes over the runway before she finally landed. The first time she was coming in too fast, and the second time, she wasn’t able to line up her landing properly. Quite frankly, it was a miracle she was able to land without damaging the plane any more.

After everyone was on the ground, they all taxied their planes off the runway. Not into the hangars, just onto the pavement to keep them from blocking the runway any further than it already was. Eva felt an immense wave of relief wash over her as she finally came to a complete stop. As soon as her engines were off, she threw her canopy open and staggered out of the cockpit. She basically collapsed onto the ground on her hands and knees, tearing her oxygen mask off and throwing her helmet aside. Eva gasped for breath over and over, yet it still didn’t seem to help.

“Diamond, Diamond!” Lucky rushed over to her side. “Are you ok? Come on stay with us,” he had a concerned expression on his face.

She nodded; her head still low to the ground. “Yeah- yeah I’m fine,” she managed to say between as her breathing finally settled. “Just need to catch my breath.” Her voice shook as she spoke.

“Cut that out,” Vortex ordered as he approached them. “That kind of talk is just as dangerous on the ground as it is in the air. I don’t want you pushing yourself.” His gaze shifted from Eva to Lucky. “Go find the barracks and get her to a bed. Diamond, I want you to get some sleep.”

Lucky helped Eva to her feet and put her arm around his shoulder. “Come on, let’s go,” he said gently, leading her toward the largest building.

Next to the door, there was a small plaque that read, “Gardos Air Base Barracks”. Lucky pushed the door open and helped Eva inside.

Eva let out a heavy sigh as they walked through the empty hallways. “This is all my fault,” she muttered, looking down at the floor.

Lucky gave her a confused look. “How could this be your fault?” he asked. “You worked your ass off to save us. You were amazing out there.”

“Maybe if I was just a bit faster, and a bit better, I could’ve saved Domino and the rest of Meteor Squadron,” she said. “I probably could’ve saved everyone on the Kestrel II if I was better.”

Lucky glanced at her worriedly. He looked as if he was trying to formulate what words he was about to say next. “Listen…” he began. “That was scary. I was scared,” he admitted. “Everything went so wrong so quickly, and then you rushed off to fight that pilot without even hesitating. If that Arsenal Bird didn’t show up, you would’ve given us all the time we needed to escape, but me…” His voice trailed off. “I barely did anything compared to you.”

“You took a missile for the carrier,” Eva reminded him. “That was pretty damn brave,” she said, briefly cracking a smile before it faded just as fast as it appeared. “I could’ve done more; I _should’ve_ done more, but I didn’t.”

Lucky opened the door to the first room they could find and helped Eva onto the bed inside it. As he sat down next to her, he looked straight ahead at the wall.

“You know, someone once gave me some very good advice.” He looked over at Eva. “They said ‘No matter what happens, you should know that I’ll be here for you, and so will the others. Because you’re our friend, and nothing is going to change that. So, don’t think you have to do this alone, because you’re not alone.’ I don’t know about you, but I think that’s some helpful advice,” he said with a smirk.

Eva rested her head on Lucky’s shoulder, and for the first time since she left the carrier for Farbanti, she felt at ease. Her breathing steadied and she tried to let herself forget about everything that had gone wrong that day.

“Thank you, Lucky,” she said, looking up at him with a smile.

Lucky stood up and made his way over to the door. “I’m gonna go find the others. You get some sleep.” He gently shut the door behind him and left Eva alone with her thoughts.

Several hours had passed since they landed at Gardos Air Base. The pink and orange of sunset had been replaced by a blanket of stars across the night sky. Moonlight poured in through the windows of the air base’s mess hall, although it didn’t do much to light up the room, as the bright lights hanging from the ceiling were doing that already. Inside, Lucas stood hunched over a paper map of Usea laid out on a table. The other four pilots were all seated around him as well.

Finally, he threw his hands up in defeat. “I don’t know,” he said with an exasperated sigh. “We don’t know where the enemy is, or where any other Oseans are, except for Fort Grays Island, but that’s across the continent. There’s no way we’d be able to make it there.”

“What about Megalith?” Charger asked, pointing to a small island relatively near their position. “It could be a nice place to whole up.”

Poet shook his head. “Nah, the place is nothing more than ruins after ISAF wrecked it during the Continental War. There isn’t much there to offer.”

Charger sunk back into his char. “Damn it. This really is hopeless,” he growled.

Lucas frowned as he looked around at his pilots. It hurt seeing them all like this, he understood why of course, but he still needed to do something. “Listen, I know things look grim,” he began. “But we’ve got to find a way. We owe it to Meteor Squadron and everyone on the Kestrel II.”

“Vortex is right,” Magic finally spoke up. “It sucks to lose people you care about… I would know,” she said. “But the best thing we can do is carry on in their name, and make them proud of what we do.” She sighed as her eyes went from one pilot to the other. “My parents died in a car crash when I was little. After that, I went to live with my aunt and uncle. It was with them that I realized I wanted to be a fighter pilot. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for them, and I know my parents would be proud of me if they could see where I am today. It’s up to us to make sure that we can say the same thing about everyone we’ve lost.”

Lucas had to admit that Magic had a way with words. Of course, she was right, and everyone in the room knew it. The only problem was that nobody knew what they were going to do, or where they were going to go. They had no plan. It was as simple as that. However, they needed to do something, and they needed to do it soon. Lucas knew it was only a matter of time until Erusea sent forces to retake the airbase, and when they came, they wouldn’t be able to fight them all off. But he could tell that everyone was tired, stressed, and out of energy.

“How about this. Let’s all hit the hay, and we’ll continue this in the morning when we’ve all got clear heads. But first, I’m gonna swing by the hangars and see what kind of planes we have at our disposal because I think it’s pretty safe to say that ours aren’t going anywhere,” Lucas said.

Everyone smiled and nodded a bit, clearly thankful that he made the suggestion, which made Lucas happy in a way. After everything they had gone through, it was nice to see them smiling, and it made him smile as well.

“Well, goodnight everyone,” Lucky said, standing up. “I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

Everyone mumbled their farewells and Lucas broke off from the others, making his way outside and toward the hangars.

The new summer air was still and warm, and Lucas couldn’t help but feel relaxed as he looked up at the star-covered sky. The chirping of crickets filled his ears, giving him a feeling of tranquility as he strode down the concrete path toward the hangars. His attention shifted from the sky to the six wrecked F/A-18s just off to the side of the runway. Suddenly, he saw a shape underneath the wing of Diamond’s plane, leaning against the fuselage. He squinted through the darkness as he got closer, trying to make out the shape. Finally, he figured out that it was Diamond. He barely recognized her with her hair down. With his curiosity piqued, he quietly approached behind her. As he came up behind her, Lucas realized she was crying.

He took a deep breath in and out. “This isn’t gonna be easy,” he whispered to himself.

He knelt down and crawled underneath the wing of the plane, sitting down next to Diamond on the hard concrete. She briefly looked over at him before lowering her head and resting it on her knees.

“Can’t sleep?” Lucas asked gently.

Diamond shook her head, not even looking up. “Every time I close my eyes, I see the carrier exploding and sinking to the bottom of the ocean,” she trembled. She raised her head up and looked over at Lucas. “If we didn’t stand a chance with a whole aircraft carrier and two squadrons, what chance do we have with just one?”

Lucas’ expression softened as he saw the dismay in Diamond’s eyes. He couldn’t help but feel that he was responsible for this somehow. Perhaps there was something he could’ve done to avoid all this, or at the very least make it better.

He sighed. “Look, I wish I could say that I knew all the answers. I wish I knew what happened in Farbanti, and what’s going to happen from here on out, but I don’t. I do know one thing though. Torch and Waller sacrificed themselves so that we could live. They had faith in us that we would do good in their name, so it’s up to us to keep their memories alive.” He felt a sharp pang of sadness as he thought back to Vortex and her death, and how he later changed his TAC name to hers. “It’s up to us,” he repeated. “We’re gonna get through this, Diamond. All of us.” He looked over at her and she smiled at him, which filled Lucas with relief. It was good to see her feeling better. He crawled out from under the wing of the plane and offered a hand to Diamond. “Come on, I’m gonna go check out what kind of planes are in the hangars and get some sleep. Why don’t you come with me?” he offered.

Diamond grabbed his hand and he pulled her up. “Sure, let’s go.”

When they first attacked the airbase only a day before, Lucas had no idea that they were this underequipped. It was so bad, that there wasn’t enough of any one type of plane for all of them. Aside from their F/A-18s, which were now essentially scrap piles, all that they had was an Su-37, an Su-35, two Rafales, a MiG-29, two Gripens, and an F-2.

“Guess we’ll have to just choose a plane,” Lucas said, looking at all the fighters in front of them. “What do you think?” he asked Diamond.

She scoffed. “At least we have planes to fly. It could be worse,” she responded.

Lucas nodded. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Well, we’ve seen what kind of planes there are. Let’s go get some shut-eye.”

Diamond smiled a bit. “Yeah, that sounds nice right about now.”


	14. E&E

To Eva’s surprise, she actually managed to get a good amount of sleep, or at least, more than she expected to get. Her eyelids fluttered open, and the pinkish-orange light from the sunrise poured in through the window, gleaming in her dark green eyes. She sat up and looked around; everything was peaceful. A cool, refreshing breeze came in through the window, which was cracked ever so slightly open, and the birds were singing their songs. For a brief moment, Eva naively thought that the war and everything that happened the previous day had all been a bad dream, but then she saw her flight crumpled up haphazardly on the floor and she came back to her senses. She let out a heavy sigh that was filled with many emotions; sadness, anger, regret, and most of all, guilt. After finally spotting her tank top, dangling from the back of the chair pushed into the desk, she threw the sheets off of herself and stood up. The tiles on the floor felt ice-cold against her bare feet; it definitely helped to wake her up. Although, just as she got up, Lucky appeared in the door, but he quickly turned away upon seeing Eva not fully dressed.  
“Oh- uh… sorry,” he stammered and fumbled over himself.  
Eva shrugged as she slid her tank top on. “Don’t worry about,” she said dismissively. “What’d you need?”  
Lucky finally turned around, his face showing a very subtle shade of red. “We’re all meeting in the mess to come up with a plan,” he informed her.  
Eva nodded. “Alright, I’ll be there in a second. I just need to get ready.”  
“Sounds good, I’ll let them know,” Lucky said with a shrug as he continued walking down the hallway.  
With the room to herself once more, Eva threw on her flight suit and then started gathering all of her hair into a ponytail. She stretched out the hair tie wrapped around her wrist and slid it past her hand and pulled it closer to the back of her head. Just as she was putting it around her hair, though, it suddenly snapped in two. One end of the elastic band whipped around and nipped at her skin, causing her to curse under her breath. She looked down at the now broken hair tie for a moment before casting it aside, and walking out of the room toward the mess hall, running her fingers through her hair along the way to make it at least look semi-decent.

By the time Eva arrived, everyone else was already gathered at one table eating pieces of toast. She found herself slightly amused by the fact that despite everything they had gone through, it still almost seemed like nothing had changed. Magic held out a piece of toast in her hand as Eva approached, which she took as she sat down.  
“Is this our breakfast?” Eva asked with a small smirk.  
“I was up the earliest, and this was the easiest thing to make that I could find. Truth be told, there wasn’t much else,” Poet explained.  
“I want you all to eat as much as possible. We don’t know when the next time we’re going to eat is,” he told them before hesitantly adding “If there’s a next time at all.” He rolled out the map from the previous night in the middle of the table. “But now that we’re all here, let’s come up with a course of action.”  
“Well, there’s not really much we can do, to be honest. Fort Grays Island is the only allied base we know of, and we wouldn’t have enough fuel to make it there,” Charger observed.  
“What if we raid an airbase on the way and use its fuel to help us get there,” Magic suggested.  
Eva shook her head. “No dice, the planes we saw weren’t loaded with missiles, and I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t think we’d be able to take an entire airbase with just machine guns.”  
Vortex nodded. “She’s right. Not to mention, we can’t forget about the Arsenal Birds,” he reminded everyone. “We don’t know where they are.”  
“Or that other pilot that showed up,” Lucky added.  
Vortex let out a heavy sigh and rested his head against his hand. It was clear that the whole situation was stressful for him, and Eva didn’t blame him for it. She couldn’t imagine having to lead five pilots into the unknown with no intel and no plan.  
“I don’t know,” he finally said. “I think our best bet is to head east along Northern Usea. After that, we have three possibilities: either we’ll get shot down, run into allied forces, or run out of fuel and land in the desert.”  
“Well, realistically, that’s probably what’ll happen regardless of which direction we choose to go,” Charger said.  
“At least this way if we run out of fuel, we’ll have something soft beneath us to try and land on,” Lucky added optimistically.  
Vortex’s eyes shifted around the table at each pilot who nodded. “We’re all in agreement, then?” he asked.  
“We’re behind you, Vortex,” Poet said with a smile.  
“All the way,” Eva added.  
Vortex smiled and nodded. “Good, let’s go to the hangars, then. We’ll make whatever adjustments to our planes that we need and get going. We should be leaving in no later than two hours.”

Once everyone got to the hangar, they were all hesitant to be the first one to pick a plane, but Eva’s eyes gravitated toward the Su-35, which had a camo pattern of various shades of dark gray.  
“Well, we’re not getting any younger here,” she said, walking over to the plane and giving it further inspection. “Although, it feels like it’s missing something.” She looked around the hangar and spotted various paints out of the corner of her eye. “Aha, perfect!” A little personal touch felt like just the thing. She looked grabbed a blue paint as well as white and went back to her plane, circling around it as she thought of a design.  
Meanwhile, Vortex decided to opt for the Su-37, while Charger went with one of the Gripens. Magic and Poet chose the F-2 and Mig-29 respectively, and Lucky chose a Rafale. By the time they had finished choosing, Eva had already covered the Erusean emblem and replaced it with her own on both vertical stabilizers. She took a step back to admire her handiwork, proud of the fact she managed to seamlessly cover up the Erusean emblems with the camo pattern, but suddenly, more inspiration struck. She grabbed the blue paint and climbed up to the tails again.  
Lucky looked up from his plane at Eva. “How are you so good at that?” he asked.  
“My mom was a mechanic in the OADF. She used to put liveries on planes all the time; this one is pretty basic,” she explained, not looking up from her work. “That’s where she met my dad,” she added. For a moment, she felt a deep sadness as she brought up her father, but quickly shrugged it off when she realized that if he saw her now, he’d be proud of her; Eva was sure of that.  
Finally, she jumped down and circled around her plane again. She had painted the tips of both the vertical and horizontal stabilizers blue, as well as around a third of both wings starting from the tips. Eva definitely felt proud of her work, but it still felt incomplete. She looked over to the others and their planes, hoping to get some inspiration, and she saw Vortex, she thought about what he had told her the previous night.  
“It’s up to us to keep their memories alive.” The words echoed clearly in her mind as if he had just said them, and it was then that she got her idea.  
She went back to the vertical stabilizers and started painting a kestrel in white. Its wings were outstretched and it looked right at her. It was quite difficult to get such fine lines with the paintbrushes at her disposal, but she was rather pleased with the result, and even more pleased with the fact that she was able to create an almost identical copy to the first one on the other stabilizer.  
An hour passed before anyone even realized it, and Vortex jumped down onto the hangar floor after finishing his work.  
“Is everyone ready?” he asked. The squadron replied with various responses of approval and he nodded. “Alright, good. Let’s suit up and hit the road, then.”

Everyone grabbed their helmets and flight gear and climbed into their planes. For a moment, Eva was caught off guard by how different the cockpit of the Su-35 looked from her F/A-18, but she had the basic principles down. She slid her helmet on, albeit with some difficulty due to her hair being down, and switched on the engines. One by one, they all taxied out of the hangar but stopped.  
“Oh, right. We forgot about the wreck blocking the runway,” Charger said.  
Magic let out an exasperated sigh. “Alright, let’s go move it.”  
With all six pilots pushing, it was a lot easier than Eva thought it would be to get the Su-37 wreck off the runway, although it did still take a great deal of effort, but with all of the obstacles out of the way, Nexus Squadron was ready to take off once again. They went up one at a time, and as usual, Eva was last. She could feel her heart pounding as she sat at the end of the runway. After what happened during Operation Dual Wielder, she still wasn’t entirely sure if she believed in herself enough, but she believed in Vortex, and that’s all she needed. She gently accelerated and gradually picked up speed, and finally, she lifted herself into the air. After retracting her landing gear, Eva opened her afterburners and formed up with the others as they turned northeast and flew off into the distance. She looked behind herself one more time as they all flew away. She may have only stayed at Gardos Air Base for one day, but she still felt like she was going to miss it in a strange way, but not the memories it brought back for her.

“How’s everyone doing on fuel?” Vortex’s question made Eva jolt as she admittedly had zoned out a bit after flying in a straight line for so long.  
She glanced down at her instruments, looking for her fuel. “I’ve got about a quarter of my tank left,” she reported.  
Everyone else seemed to be in a similar situation. Eva looked down at her radar, and just like the last few dozen times she checked it, there was nothing. She rolled her eyes. She hadn’t been keeping track, but Eva was sure that by now they had been flying for several hours. She turned her attention from the instruments in her cockpit to the ground below her. She couldn’t make out many details, but then again, there weren’t many details to make out; it was nothing but sand and rock.  
“This is Nexus Squadron of the IUPF radioing any Osean forces. Does anyone copy?” Vortex asked in a monotone voice, tired of repeating the same question over and over again. He waited for a moment, and just like every other time, nobody responded. “Great, still nothing,” he mumbled.  
Once again, Eva absently scanned through all the instruments in her cockpit. At first, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, but she quickly did a double-take at her radar. She looked closer and saw a group of contacts headed straight for them.  
“Um, guys. We’ve got hostiles, bearing 210, coming right at us,” Eva reported.  
“Shit!” Vortex growled. “We’re gonna have to engage them. Everyone, stay on your toes.”  
Charger was the first one to break right to engage the enemy, but Vortex sped forward and took point. The rest of the squadron followed, but Eva’s heart sank as soon as they all realized what was headed for them: MQ-99s. At that moment, she thought that it was all over; they were going to die, but suddenly, static cut into Eva’s radio. It was indiscernible at first, but slowly, it got clearer, and the voice of a young man, probably no older than thirty, was audible.  
“Allied fighters, this is the AWACS Crosswind for the Air Force Base 262 Squadron. What is your affiliation?” they asked.  
At that moment, everyone felt a mixture of relief, now that they had found allies, and fear, because of the drones speeding toward them. Eva set her sights on one of the drones and adjusted her course to go straight at it. Now that they had found allies, they had a fighting chance. As soon as the drone was in range, she fired a burst of machine-gun fire, which destroyed the drone as she broke off at the last second.  
“This is Nexus Squadron of the International Union Peacekeeping Force. We’re being engaged by enemy drones, and we’re not equipped for air-to-air. We need support,” Vortex answered urgently.  
After a brief pause, Crosswind finally responded. “Understood. Allied fighters are in the AO and are on their way to assist,” he told them. “Just hang in there.”  
As if on cue, five allied contacts appeared on Eva’s radar, moving in their direction. Although, she didn’t have long to think about it, as her thoughts were cut off by a missile alert. She quickly deployed flares and banked left, looking over her shoulder as she did to get a look at her pursuer. She went from a left turn to a high-G loop upward and then back down. After that, she went right into another high-G turn upward, where she had a perfect shot on the drone that was chasing her. One quick burst from her machine-guns was all it took to finish it off.

Suddenly, a volley of several missiles came shrieking overhead and took out all of the remaining drones at once. Eva craned her neck toward the source of the missiles and saw the allied fighters fly overhead. The formation consisted of five aircraft; an F-15C at the lead, an F-16C and an Su-33 on either side of it, and a Typhoon and a MiG-29 bringing up the rear. What interested Eva the most, though, was the fact that the entire left side of all five planes was painted orange, and their tails all had either one or two white lines on them.  
“There, problem solved. You’re welcome,” a new woman said.  
“You did what was expected of you Rogue 1, nothing more,” Crosswind snapped. “Quite frankly, I’m surprised Rogue 3 didn’t run off with his tail between his legs like he always does.”  
“Save the lecture for back at base Crosswind. For now, let’s just send these incompetent idiots back where they came from and go home,” another man said.  
“Err I hate to interrupt,” Vortex cut in awkwardly. “But we don’t have a base. It’s a long story. I hope there’s room at your base for six more.”  
“Yes, of course, there is,” Crosswind answered. “Ignore Rogue Squadron here. We’ll guide you back to base.”  
“You better not slow us down now,” a new male voice chimed in with a lighthearted tone. “We’d just hate for you to get lost along the way.”  
Eva rolled her eyes as she formed up behind the allied Fighters with the rest of Nexus Squadron. So far, she didn’t seem to be getting the best impression from them, but by that point, she didn’t really care. They had regrouped with Osea, and that was the important thing. While she had her doubts about this squadron, she put herself at east with the thought that they likely wouldn’t be staying with them, and would get transferred right away anyways. Besides, nobody else in Nexus Squadron seemed to be voicing any concerns either, and that was enough to calm her nerves as they all followed Rogue Squadron back to their base.


	15. 262

After flying east for a fair bit of time, Nexus Squadron and Rogue Squadron finally arrived at their destination. Despite being in a desert, the base seemed to be fairly large. It was lined by a fence with barbed wire on the top, and watchtowers were in each corner. Crosswind was the first to land, followed by Nexus Squadron, and finally, Rogue Squadron.

Eva was guided into one of the hangars where the others were already climbing out of their planes. She popped the canopy open and jumped down onto the hangar’s stone floor, where she took off her helmet and flight gear. She made her way over to the others, who were gathering near the hangar’s entrance. “Am I the only one getting some weird vibes from this place?” she asked.

Magic shook her head. “Nah, I don’t like it either. Something’s off,” she said. Her eyes wandered around both the hangar and the runway outside.

“Let’s just be glad we found allied forces at all,” Vortex reminded them. “No matter how this base is run, we’d be dead without them.” He shifted his gaze outside as he watched Rogue Squadron taxi into the next available hangar.

Eva brushed her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. “I don’t know. Something about this place just doesn’t sit right with me,” she said. “But if you trust it, so do I,” she added with a shrug.

At that moment, someone a young man in a flight suit with tanned skin and short black hair approached them. “So, Nexus Squadron, is it? I’m Crosswind,” he introduced himself. He looked fairly young for an AWACS controller.

Vortex nodded and shook Crosswind’s hand. “Your help was much appreciated. We weren’t sure if we were going to make it,” he admitted. “My name’s Vortex, Nexus Squadron’s leader. This is Charger, Poet, Magic, Lucky, and Diamond.” He gestured to each pilot as he told Crosswind their name.

“Pleasure to meet you all,” Crosswind said with a rather pleasant smile. “If you don’t mind me asking, where did you come from? We don’t have any intel on friendlies out west.” He paused before adding, “Although it’s not like we have much intel on anything, to be fair.”

“We were stationed aboard the aircraft carrier Kestrel II,” Vortex explained. “It’s… kind of a long story.”

Crosswind nodded. “I understand. Well, in the meantime, I think you should come with me to meet the base commander and debrief him on your situation.” He turned toward the hangar’s doors and started heading outside. “Come on, I’ll bring you to him.”

As soon as Eva stepped out of the hangar, she was greeted by intense heat. She made an attempt to fan herself with her hands, but it was quite futile. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw five pilots leaving the other hangar, but she couldn’t see them very well from where she was. The one thing that did stand out to her was that each of them had a red armband on their left arm. Eva didn’t have long to dwell on it, though, as Crosswind led them into the command building, where she was blasted by a wave of cool air. A sense of relief and comfort washed over her, despite the rather loud fans and air conditioners.

Crosswind navigated through the winding halls and staircases with ease, leading Nexus Squadron down a hallway on the top floor and toward the one door at the end. He held his hand out behind him, signaling for the pilots to stop as he approached the door with a plaque labeled “C. Gates” on it. He gently knocked a few times. “Commander, are you busy?” he asked.

“Come on in, Crosswind,” an older male voice replied from inside.

Crosswind opened the door and led the pilots into what looked like some sort of office. The whole room looked remarkably organized, and even the desk didn’t have anything out of place. Sitting at the desk and looking at a computer screen was an older man in his mid to early forties with short black hair. He looked up, briefly smiling at Crosswind before tilting his head at the sight of Nexus Squadron. “Who’s this?” he asked in a rather pleasant tone.

Crosswind looked as if he was about to answer, but Vortex stepped forward. “My name is Captain Lucas Haynes, but most people call me Vortex, and this-” he gestured toward the other five pilots. “Is my squadron, Nexus Squadron.”

The commander nodded as Vortex spoke. “I see…” His voice trailed off for a moment. “Well, I’m Base Commander Gates, commander of the penal unit known as the 262 Squadron,” Gates explained.

“Penal unit?” Magic echoed, raising an eyebrow.

Gates let out a heavy sigh, averting his gaze from the others. “Osea took convicts with military backgrounds and sent them here to serve instead of going to prison. I can’t say that I agree with the practice, but in all honesty, there’s not much I can do about it.” He paused for a moment before looking back up at the others. “Anyways, what are you doing here?”

“Well… we were originally stationed on the carrier Kestrel II,” Vortex explained.

Gates’ eyes suddenly lit up at the mention of Kestrel II. He looked at Vortex with a sense of impatience. “Kestrel II?” he echoed. “My nephew was a crew member aboard that carrier. What happened to it?” His tone shifted to display a sense of urgency.

“We were sent into Farbanti to take the capital,” Vortex began, his expression darkening. “And we almost had it, but then… one of the Arsenal Birds showed up. There’s no way anyone on board could have survived, I’m sorry.”

“Damn,” Gates muttered. “He was a good kid.” An awkward silence filled the room before Gates broke it. “Anyways, a lot has happened, so I should probably fill you in.” He gestured the pilots over to his computer, where he was pulling up the briefing software. “First and foremost, we’re not doing too hot,” Gates said as the enemy and friendly forces appeared on the screen. However, the Sandbury Desert was firmly in the red. “We’re cut off from allied forces, and we can’t contact them. It seems Erusea has some sort of communication jammer somewhere that’s keeping us in the dark. The only intel we get is from the satellites.” A huge red circle appeared on the map, covering most of the continent, and their base was only barely outside its range. “The Arsenal Birds are protecting this area,” Gates explained. “I’ll be honest, you guys have guts to have flown right through their defense network.”

“Honestly, we didn’t even know about that,” Charger admitted. “We just kinda flew east. We weren’t even sure we’d run into any friendlies.”

Gates shrugged. “Regardless, it’s still an impressive feat. Anyways, the Eruseans know we’re here. They’ve sent bombers on multiple occasions, but our fighters have intercepted them every time. We’ve tried to carry out operations, but the aforementioned Arsenal Birds make it difficult.” A sudden realization seemed to hit Gates and he turned his attention to Crosswind. “Speaking of which, that reminds me, how did things go?”

Crosswind cleared his throat. “We were able to make contact with the target, and your suspicions were right. He said he wants to defect, but that we should give him a week or two so he can gather as much intel as he can,” he answered.

Gates nodded. “I see. Well, we’ll give him two, just so he can be as prepared as possible and so we don’t risk jumping the gun.” He noticed Nexus Squadron’s confused looks, so he decided to explain. “One of my close friends is an officer in the Erusean Military, Major Tillmin,” he began. “He’s always been on the conservative side, so I had a theory he wouldn’t like this direction Erusea was going. When I heard he was in San Salvacion, I knew I had to act, so I sent Crosswind and Rogue Squadron to try and make contact and see if he wanted to defect, which he did.” He paused for a moment, and his gaze shifted between Crosswind and Nexus Squadron. “Listen… I know we’re probably not what you were expecting when you set out to regroup with allied forces, but I have a request to make.”

Vortex looked at the other five pilots and nodded. “Name it, sir.”

“I’d like to ask you to join Rogue Squadron. Since you were able to survive an encounter with an Arsenal Bird and fly through enemy territory, it’s clear that you’re very skilled. Plus, I had a little skim through your records while we were talking, and that reinforced my belief in you. He paused for a moment. “I know Crosswind has his reservations about Rogue Squadron,” he said, flashing an understanding look to the AWACS controller. “But all five of them are skilled pilots. And maybe, just maybe, if they fly with you guys, they’ll change for the better.”

Crosswind scoffed. “With all due respect, Commander, you’re crazy if you think they’ll ever change,” he said bitterly.

“Maybe so,” Gates replied. “But it’s my job to try.” He turned from Crosswind to the pilots. “So? What do you say?”

“Well, it seems like we don’t have much of a choice,” Magic admitted.

Gates cracked a small smile. “I didn’t want to phrase it like that, but I guess that’s true.”

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m in. Any chance I get to stick it to the Eruseans after Farbanti, I’ll take,” Charger said.

Poet nodded. “I don’t care who I’m flying with, convict or not, winning this war is what’s important.”

Lucky looked over at Eva, who nodded, and he did the same.

After seeing the reactions of his squadmates, Vortex smiled and nodded to Gates. “We’ll do it,” he finally answered.

“Excellent!” Gates exclaimed. “I’ll have to do some rearranging, but Vortex, I’ll be redesignating you as Rogue 1. For now, Crosswind will take you to meet the other pilots, and I’ll try to make some room for you all to sleep in here.” He looked over to Crosswind and nodded.

Crosswind dipped his head and escorted the pilots out of Gates’ office.

“Just for the record, this is going to end badly,” Crosswind warned as they stepped out of the command building.

“Why’s that?” Eva asked raising an eyebrow.

“These people are nutcases. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why Gates lets them anywhere near fighter jets, let alone actually fly them,” Crosswind growled. “So, when they find out that they’re flying with you, I’d expect some harsh words.” He opened the door to the main base, which was significantly more humid than the command building. “Throw in the fact that your assuming command and Magnum will probably freak out on you.”

“You don’t seem very fond of them,” Charger observed.

“Yeah well, I have my reasons,” Crosswind grumbled without taking his eyes off of the hallways in front of him.

Before long, they arrived at an archway that led into a much larger room that Eva could only assume was the mess hall. Sunlight poured in through the windows, shining on the metal tables scattered around the room with no rhyme or reason. Eva quickly spotted the five pilots from earlier thanks to the armbands on their sleeves. It seemed Crosswind noticed them too, as he was already making his way over to them.

The first one to notice him was the only woman in the group. She looked to be in her mid to early thirties and had short brown hair, green eyes, and a scar on her left cheek. She narrowed her eyes and stood up, marching over to Crosswind. One of the other pilots, about the same age as her, who had dark skin and was bald with blue eyes, followed her over to the approaching group.

“Well, well, well if it isn’t our favorite guard,” the woman said. Her voice oozed disdain and sarcasm. She looked past him at the other pilots. “Let me guess, you’re the ones we bailed out earlier. Well? What do you want?”

“He’s probably here to send us on another suicide mission,” a younger pilot with ginger hair down to his ears, some slight stubble, and green eyes, sneered from the table.

Crosswind ignored the remark. “Cut the shit. They’re going to be staying with us, since they don’t have anywhere else to go, and they’ll be flying with you from here on out.”

The woman scowled at the AWACS controller and got right up in his face, as they were both the same height. “And what gives you the right to put them in my squadron?” she demanded.

Crosswind didn’t even flinch and looked her dead in the eye. “It’s not your squadron; never has been, and never will be. Especially now that Vortex here is taking command.” He gestured to Vortex as he spoke.

The look on the woman’s face went from annoyed to angry. “What did you just say?” she demanded.

“Magnum’s always been number one,” the man next to her said. “What makes these guys so special anyway?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Crosswind scoffed. “Well, for one, they’re not convicts,” he retorted. “Gates thinks that you’ll learn something from flying with them, even though I tried to convince him that you’re all beyond saving.”

The other pilot still sitting down feigned an affectionate expression. “Aww, I’m touched.”

The woman’s gaze went between Crosswind and the other pilots before she shoved past the AWACS controller and stormed off. The man next to her shot Crosswind a glare before following her.

“Assholes,” Crosswind groaned, rolling his eyes. “Well, the one who was probably ready to kill me on the spot was Magnum, and the guy following her everywhere she goes is Axe.” He nodded to the table where the remaining three were sitting. “The guy who thinks he’s a comedian is Slipstream and the one who looks like he washed his hair with grease is Dodger.” He pointed to the pilot sitting next to Slipstream with greasy, slicked-back golden hair and brown eyes. “And finally, there’s-”

“Trench!?” Eva felt herself jump a bit at Poet suddenly finishing Crosswind’s introduction. She turned around to see him walking over to the youngest of Rogue Squadron’s pilots, who was distancing himself from the other two. He was definitely the shortest out of all of them, and he had messy dark brown hair and blue eyes.

Trench looked up at Poet as he walked over. “Poet?” he asked in disbelief.

Poet knelt down so they were at eye-level with each other. “Trench, what are you doing here?” He gestured to the entire room as he spoke. “How did you…” His voice trailed off.

Trench stood up and looked away. “It’s… a long story,” he replied. “I just- I didn’t try to…” he struggled to put the words he wanted to say into his mouth. Eventually, he just gave up and walked away. Poet looked as if he wanted to go after him but didn’t.

Slipstream stood up and smirked. “Well, it looks like we’re gonna get along just fine,” he said sarcastically, and with that, he walked away.

A few seconds later, Dodger stood up and walked over to the pilots. “Don’t get in my way, or I’ll make you regret it,” he mumbled.

Crosswind laughed. “Quit trying to sound tough you spineless coward. You’re the first one to run away every time trouble shows up,” he said with a smirk. Dodger frowned, but he didn’t say anything; he just walked away. With everyone gone, Crosswind turned around to face the pilots again. “Well, I’m sure it’ll take some time to get used to putting up with their bullshit, but for now, just worry about getting settled in. In the meantime, I’ve got some reports to write, so if you need me, my office is a few down from Gates’. Look for the one with Morrow written on it.” He nodded to the six pilots and made his way out of the mess hall, leaving Nexus Squadron there alone in a new base they still knew so little about.


	16. The Calm

Pinkish-orange light poured into Eva and Magic’s room through the window, and Eva’s eyes were practically forced open. She looked over to her side to see Magic hop down from the top bunk and start getting dressed. Before long, Eva threw the sheets off of her and did the same.

“Hey, do you wanna come on a run with me?” Magic suddenly asked as she finished making her bed.

“I don’t know… It’d be good to get a bit more exercise, but it’s just so damn hot here,” Eva replied as she finished getting dressed.

“Well, it seems to not get that hot during the early mornings, so we should have a decent amount of time before we get cooked alive,” Magic said with a slight smirk.

Eva chuckled as she neatly folded her sheets back onto her bed, tucking them in under the corners of the mattress. “Alright, let’s go. You got a route in mind?”

Magic shrugged. “I don’t know. We can just loop around the runway a bunch of times, I guess. Seeing as how this place is basically a prison, there isn’t exactly a lot of running space.”

“Yeah, you’ve got a point there,” Eva agreed. While the prisoners may be given free rein, for the most part, there were still strict rules for them, and the nature of the penal unit was still quite apparent, despite what seemed to be Gates’ best efforts. Luckily, though, Eva and the other Nexus Squadron pilots didn’t face most of these issues. She paused for a moment to stretch out her arms and legs, waiting until she heard several satisfying pops before standing up straight again. After Magic finished doing the same thing, the two of them made their way out of their room and through the halls of the command building.

After staying at the base for a week, Eva finally felt like she was getting the hang of making her way through the halls. She also felt like she was getting into a rhythm in her life, which she felt was also important. After the war broke out, she felt like she couldn’t be sure of anything, and she only felt more strongly about that after the Kestrel II sank. Now that they were back on land, though, some small part of Eva’s mind thought that things would start to return to normalcy soon. Suddenly, Eva and Magic rounded a corner and bumped right into Crosswind, who just barely managed to keep a mug of coffee from spilling on him.

“Oh! Sorry about that,” he quickly apologized. “I’ve got a lot on my mind right now.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Magic said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Her eyes gravitated to the coffee mug in his hands. “Did they finally fix that coffee machine?”

Crosswind nodded. “I did. Nobody else was doing it, so I just decided to take care of it,” he explained. “Apparently, the outlet it was plugged into was shot, so I just had to move it.”

“Well, as long as it works,” Eva added with a shrug. “I’ll have to stop by and grab a cup after our run.”

Crosswind raised an eyebrow. “You guys going running? Do you mind if I join you?” he asked. “I’ve been slacking recently, and I wanna get back into the swing of things.”

Magic looked at Eva, who’s only response was a shrug before turning her attention back to Crosswind. “Sure. The more, the merrier I guess.”

A small smile appeared on Crosswind’s face as he finished the last of his coffee. “Great! I’ll need to stop by my office really quickly, though. I want to change first.” He started walking past them and made his way up the stairs.

Eva and Magic followed behind him all the way over to his office, where they waited for a moment until Crosswind re-emerged with his flight suit off. Instead, he now wore a simple white t-shirt.

“Alright, let’s go,” he said.

Together, all three of them went back down the stairs and through the hallways until they finally made it out the door of the command building. Eva was surprisingly caught off-guard, as she expected to be hit by a wave of dry heat, but instead, she felt a gentle breeze blowing on her face. Once they got started jogging down the runway, they were all keeping a good pace. However, Eva immediately regretted her decision to go along. With nothing holding it down, her hair started bouncing all around, mostly into her face.

“All right, that does it,” Eva finally said. “As soon as we get back; I’m going to get this cut.”

While they were still getting settled into the base, a few days back, Crosswind explained that to make the convicts feel more equal, Gates tried his hardest to make the base feel less like a prison and more like an actual base, which he did by putting in many facilities one wouldn’t expect to find in a penal base. One of which was a barber and that was something that Eva intended to use to her advantage, as she was already formulating an idea on what to do with her hair.

“You know, I could probably do with a trim myself,” Magic admitted. “My hair’s getting a bit long for my taste.”

“Well then, I guess we could drop by together,” Eva suggested.

Magic nodded, and after that, they continued running with an awkward silence. They made their way all the way around the runway without saying anything. Eva glanced over at Crosswind as they all ran together. It was hard to make conversation with someone you barely knew.

“So, did you want to be an AWACS controller when you enlisted?” Eva finally asked Crosswind to break the silence.

Crosswind shook his head. “Not really, even if it is what I enlisted as right off the bat. I wanted to be a fighter pilot, but my parents said it was too dangerous, so we compromised. I guess I enjoy it well enough, though. Even if the pilots I watch over are terrible human beings.” Once again, his contempt for the convict pilots was put on full display, which made Eva even more curious as to what it was that made him despise them so much. She didn’t ask, though, since it seemed to be a sensitive subject.

“How did you end up here?” Magic asked. “I can only assume that you’re not a con, so what’s the deal?”

“Well, originally, I was part of the IUPF as part of the force stationed around the Space Elevator at Selatapura,” Crosswind explained. “A few months ago, Air Force Base 262 was established, and Gates himself put in a transfer order for me. He was part of that same garrison at Selatapura as well, so I’m guessing that’s how he knew me.” He paused for a moment before turning his head over to Magic. “What about you, guys?” he asked. “Where were you from before you were on the Kestrel II?”

“Fort Grays Island,” Magic answered. “We left on the Kestrel II a little more than a month ago. We were conducting a two-pronged attack with them when we hit Farbanti, but we never heard how they did. Considering what we know about the Arsenal Birds, I can’t say I’m holding out much hope,” she said grimly.

Crosswind paused for a moment, the look on his face expressing his sympathies. “Well, I hope they’re all ok.”

“If I’m honest,” Eva chimed in. “I didn’t really know any of them that well. I had only just arrived from Osea about a week before we left, so I didn’t get much of a chance to meet them. Although Magic did introduce me to one of the other pilots, Brownie, I think was her name.”

Magic nodded. “Yeah, I hope they all made it out. At this point, we’re gonna need all the help that we can get.”

Once again, silence fell upon the group as they continued running. By now, they had gone around the runway several times, and the sun was beginning to rise higher up into the sky. Eva’s mind went through several different topics that she could make small talk with before settling on something she had been curious about. “Hey, Magic. Do you know what the deal with Poet and Trench is?” she asked.

“I tried to ask Poet about it the other day, but all he told me was that he and Trench knew each other in flight school,” Magic explained. “He didn’t seem to want to talk about it more than that, so I didn’t ask.”

“Well, in case it matters, Trench is probably the best out of all the convicts,” Crosswind said. “He’s the newest one, and on top of the fact that he’s not an asshole, he seems to regret what he did to get sent here, unlike the other four.”

Eva glanced over at the AWACS controller. “What did he do to get sent here?” she asked.

Crosswind shrugged. “Not sure, honestly. I don’t really make a habit of snooping around in the convicts’ lives. All I know is that he did something that warranted him getting two sin lines.”

“Sin lines?” Eva and Magic both echoed nearly simultaneously with the same confused look on their face.

“They’re the scratches on the tails of their planes,” Crosswind explained. “The more scratches, the worse the crime they committed.”

“What about the orange on their planes?” Eva asked, glancing into the hangar the convicts’ planes were in as they jogged by it. “What’s that all about?”

“It’s sort of a symbol,” Crosswind answered. “Like their ‘prison jumpsuits’ for the air.”

Magic scowled. “Isn’t all this branding a bit unnecessary?” she asked.

The look on Crosswind’s face hardened as he turned his gaze toward the building where all of the convicts slept. “No. Trust me, they deserve every bit of this,” he growled. “The only one I feel bad for is Trench. If any of them change like Gates suspects, it’ll probably be Trench.”

Nobody said anything after that. They went for another loop around the runway before stopping at the entrance to the command building. Everyone took a moment to catch their breath before heading inside. Crosswind gave the others a brief goodbye and thanked them for the run before splitting off and heading up to his office while Eva and Magic went back to their room. After taking a moment to collect themselves, the two pilots went down to the showers, which were lukewarm at best and freezing at the worst. Eva couldn’t really complain, though. After everything that happened, it just felt nice to be able to feel at least semi-normal. Neither Eva nor Magic took very long, though. As the two of them made their way through the halls and over to where Crosswind said the barber was, Eva was surprised that they hadn’t run into anyone else yet. Although it was still fairly early in the morning, so she wasn’t all that concerned about it. After the crazy month that the six of them had, she didn’t blame any of them for wanting to get some extra sleep while they could, especially Vortex. It was clear that the stress from the whole situation affected him, so a bit of rest seemed like just the thing he needed.

Magic was the first to come out from the room that the barber had made into his workspace since all she got was a simple trim. After another fifteen minutes, Eva stepped out as well. Before she got it cut, her hair went down all the way past her shoulders when it wasn’t tied up, but now, it barely went lower than her chin. She also decided to shave the left side of her hair just above her ears and move the part in her hair all the way to that side.

Magic smiled as she saw Eva walk up to her. “I like it.”

Eva nodded. “Yeah, I think it turned out really well,” she said, running her fingers through her hair. She couldn’t even remember the last time her hair had been this short, but she really liked it. “Where do you think the others are?”

“I’m not sure. We could check the mess hall, though,” Magic said with a shrug. “That’s probably where they are.”

“Yeah, let’s head down there. I just hope we don’t run into the other five again,” Eva replied. After the last confrontation they had with the other pilots of Rogue Squadron, she wasn’t quite sure she wanted to see them again, even though she’d have to sooner or later.

As they made their way back through the hallways of the command building, the spotted Vortex, and Charger, who were just walking out the door. Eva and Magic called out to them and broke into a light jog to catch up.

“I see you two made your way to the barber,” Charger observed as they walked alongside him and Vortex.

Eva shrugged. “Well, I desperately needed mine cut. It was getting in the way of everything without being able to tie it back.” She felt a wave of heat wash over her the moment they stepped outside.

“So, where are you guys headed, the mess?” Magic asked, looking at Vortex.

Vortex nodded. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure Poet and Lucky are there already, since they weren’t in their room.”

“Good. I’m starving,” Eva remarked. “That run really worked up my appetite.”

As soon as the four pilots entered the mess hall, Eva’s eyes scanned the mostly full room. She quickly picked Lucky and Poet out of the crowd and made her way over to them. Thankfully, Magnum and the others didn’t seem to be around. As soon as Lucky spotted Eva and the others walking over to him, he briefly had a look on his face that Eva couldn’t quite make sense of. His eyes widened, and he looked as if he was surprised to see them, but the look didn’t last long.

“Hey, Diamond. I like your hair,” he said, a bit quieter than his usual voice.

Eva smiled as she sat down across from him. “Thanks.” She glanced down at the space in front of Lucky and then back up at him with a smug grin. “You’re actually eating breakfast today?” she jested.

“Oh, piss off,” Lucky shot back lightheartedly. “I’ll eat when I feel like it.”

“Hey, turn the TV up!” Someone else called out.

Eva and the others turned their attention to the one TV on the left side of the room, and as if on cue, the volume increased so the whole mess hall could hear it. “…Sad news for the nation today,” the reporter onscreen began. “Yesterday, the International Union Peacekeeping Force launched an operation to seize control of the Space Elevator and rescue former President Vincent Harling, who was rumored to be still inside when the war broke out. However, the operation was a total failure, as it’s being reported to us that former president Harling was killed during the operation.” Several pictures and videos of Harling appeared on the screen. “It’s being reported that rather than being killed by Erusea, the aircraft Harling was shot down in was an Osean fighter. Although the Fort Grays Chief of Staff is declining to reveal the identity of the alleged killer, he is saying that an inquiry is already underway and will likely lead to a court-martial.”

“Holy shit,” Poet said. “That’s absolutely crazy.”

Charger nodded in agreement. “Why would any of them kill Harling? It doesn’t make sense.”

Eva could barely believe it. She remembered her mother telling her all sorts of stories about the Circum-Pacific War as it was ending, including the rumor about the Ghosts of Razgriz, which Eva used as the inspiration for the story she was writing back on the Kestrel II. It felt like he was untouchable. Despite such a huge revelation, nobody had much time to process it, as a deafening shriek cut through the air. Eva took a moment to process it before realizing that it was an air raid siren.

“All pilots report to the briefing room immediately. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill!” The urgency in Gates’ voice was crystal clear, even over the intercom.

All six pilots looked around at each other for a moment before standing up, heading back to the command building in a sprint.


	17. Operation Lightning Rod

“Are we all here? Then let’s get this briefing underway.” Gates didn’t even look up as he logged into the terminal.  
“What do we need a briefing for? Just send us up to shoot down whatever’s heading our way,” Magnum said impatiently.  
“Just pay attention,” Crosswind snapped while sitting next to Gates. “The sooner we’re done here, the sooner you’ll get to go up.”  
Gates nodded. “Exactly. Now, here’s the situation. It’s mainly the usual, bombers and their escorts are closing in on our position. However, it’s unlike before, as there seem to be significantly more bombers and escorts than there usually is. I’m not sure why. Your mission is simple though, intercept and destroy all targets while prioritizing the bombers, so hurry up and get to the hangars. Time is of the essence.”  
Eva and the others stood up rigidly and saluted Gates, which garnered several snickers from Magnum and her group, who simply stood up and walked out. Eva’s gaze followed them out the door before she brought up the rear of the group as they all hurried down to the hangars.

After getting her flight gear on, Eva made her way over to the hangar where her Su-35 resided. It had already been refueled and reloaded with missiles by the mechanics since Gates wanted everyone to be ready at a moment’s notice in case an attack came. This time she was loaded with 6AAMs. She quickly climbed up the ladder into her cockpit and the canopy closed above her. As she went through her pre-flight checks, she could hear the siren blaring outside, even through the closed hangar door. “Rogue Squadron, aircraft preparations complete. Stand by at the front.”  
After being in Nexus Squadron for months, with the exception of briefly flying with Domino and Torch in Meteor Squadron, it felt strange to be under a new squadron, even if Vortex was still leading it. A single loud buzz sounded off and the hangar doors slid open. One by one, each pilot turned their engines on and taxied onto the runway, with Eva bringing up the rear once again. The convicts of the squadron slipped into the line of planes so that they alternated with the others.  
“This is the Control Tower. All aircraft, you’re clear to take off, commencing interception now.”  
The pilots all started to take off. First Vortex, then Magnum, Charger, Axe, Poet, Dodger, Magic, Slipstream, and Lucky. Finally, Eva had nothing but a clear runway before her. She spooled up her engines and waited for the Control Tower.  
“Diamond, your callsign is Rogue 10. You’re cleared for takeoff, so go now,” control ordered.  
“Roger that, taking off now,” Eva replied. She briefly looked over her shoulder and watched Trench’s MiG-29 taxi onto the runway before accelerating rapidly. As she picked up speed, she pulled back on the control stick, and she lifted off the ground. She climbed up higher into the sky and retracted her landing gear.  
“Rogue 10, takeoff confirmed,” control told her.  
“Alright, time to see if you all live up the hype,” Magnum sneered. She was already flying head-first at a pair of bombers with Axe right behind her.  
"I bet we’ll be the ones that do all the work,” Slipstream added with a snicker.  
Eva resisted the urge to make any sort of comeback. She looked around to get a handle on the situation. Gates wasn’t exaggerating when he said there were a lot of bombers. She set her sights on the closest group of three bombers. They were a lot higher up than most of the other bombers, so she climbed higher and higher into the sky to deal with them. She switched to her special weapons and set her sights on the Tu-95s, ignoring the escorts for a moment.  
“Rogue 1, target down,” Crosswind reported.  
“Damn, one down already?” Slipstream said, clearly impressed. “We only just started. Maybe Dodger won’t run away this time like he usually does.”  
Snickers came from a few of the other convicts before Dodger defended himself. “It’s not my fault that I have a sense of self-preservation and you don’t.”  
“You probably wouldn’t even need to run away if you actually helped,” Axe shot back.  
“Yeah,” Slipstream agreed. “You’re actually a decent pilot, unlike Trench.”  
Eva waited for some sort of reply from Trench, but instead, Poet muttered, “He’s probably better than you are.”  
Finally, Eva was in range of the bombers. “Rogue 10, Fox 3,” she announced, firing a single salvo as she flew straight at them. However, only one bomber went down. She rolled onto her side and looped around to get behind the bombers.  
“Rogue 10, target is in gun range,” Crosswind told her.  
Since the bombers had little to no maneuverability, they didn’t stand a chance as Eva fired two standard missiles at the first bomber and used machine guns to destroy the other one.  
“That’s three down,” she reported.  
“Are you convicts napping up there?” Crosswind jested. “It seems like they’re doing all the work.”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just splashed two bombers,” Magnum said in a clearly irritated tone.  
“Hey, Diamond, you’ve got some escort fighters coming up behind you.”  
Lucky’s warning came just in time, as Eva’s missile alert suddenly went off. Not wanting to waste flares, she arced her plane up just as the missile was about to hit her, causing it to sail past her. The missile didn’t have the time or capabilities to react properly and simply flew into the distance, where it eventually exploded mid-air. With the immediate threat off of her back, Eva glanced over her shoulder to see who was chasing her. To her surprise, it was a pair of F-4Es. “These pilots are pretty good considering how old the planes they’re flying are,” she noted.  
Slipstream snickered. “They must be running out of planes to throw at us if they’re sending Phantoms out.”  
“Don’t underestimate them just because they’re flying old planes,” Vortex cut in. “That probably means they’ve had more time to fly with it, meaning they have plenty of experience.”  
Eva banked left into a high-G turn and looked behind herself to see how well her pursers were keeping up. To Eva’s surprise, they actually turned in the opposite direction and were now facing her head-on. With no time to lose, she switched to her special weapons and fired a salvo before pulling up and around into a loop before they could fire at her. “Rogue 10, scratch two hostiles.”  
“Damn, Diamond. You’re on fire today!” Charger said.  
Eva shrugged. “Well, what can I say? I’m getting into a groove. Plus, I just feel like I’m better in this Su-35 than I was in my F/A-18,” she replied.  
“Don’t forget, you’ve still got the bombers to deal with,” Crosswind reminded them. “They’re still your number one priority.”  
“Why don’t we split up?” Magic suggested. “Have one group deal with the fighters and the other deal with the bombers.”  
“Dibs on taking out the bombers,” Dodger quickly said.  
Trench scoffed. “Yeah, go figure you’d want to deal with the easier targets.”  
“Go figure, the first time Trench opens his mouth since takeoff and it’s to act better than us,” Slipstream shot back. “Last time I checked, you and Magnum are the only ones with two sin lines.”  
“Alright, enough,” Vortex intervened, clearly annoyed by their bickering. “Magnum, you take point on the bombers, Axe, Slipstream, and Lucky, go with her. Everyone else, run interference on the escorts,” he ordered.  
Eva didn’t quite like the thought of Lucky being alone with the convicts, especially when most of them seemed unstable at best, but at the same time, she didn’t have any reason to believe that they would try anything. She just didn’t like the thought of not being able to come to Lucky’s aid right away. Although she still trusted Vortex with every bone in her body, so she scanned the skies to find a target to take out. Eventually set her sights on a pair of F-15Js that were just breaking off from the bomber they were protecting, Eva kept her finger on top of the trigger as she climbed up higher to match their altitude. As soon as she had a radar lock, she fired two standard missiles at the first plane, which both found their target. The second fighter turned right, trying to face Eva head-on, but she had already flown past them and was coming back around. They made a high-G turn to try and get behind her, but Eva had already made a high-G turn of her own and quickly finished them off with a machine-gun burst.  
“Seven bombers remaining,” Crosswind informed them. “Hurry up before they get too close to the base.”  
Eva looked around for her next target. The only ones not being engaged by one of the other pilots was another pair of F-4Es, but they were quite a distance away. With no time to lose, she made a hard turn toward the unsuspecting planes and hit the afterburners. As she flew completely straight at her targets, she briefly looked around and spotted Vortex with a pair of fighters on his tail. She was about to call out to him when suddenly, his plane arced up and around in a circle that was tighter than Eva thought possible. She had never seen an aircraft move like that. “Woah! How’d you do that, Vortex?” she asked.  
Vortex laughed a bit. “It’s a maneuver called a kulbit. I’ll show you how to do it later,” he answered. “For now, let’s deal with the rest of these fighters.”  
By that point, Eva was already in range of the enemy fighters, and they were headed right for her. However, they were no match for her 6AAMs, and one salvo was all it took to bring them both down. “Lucky, what’s your status?” she asked with a slightly nervous edge in her voice.  
“Just fine,” Lucky replied in his usual cheery tone. “We just took out the last bomber.”  
“Not yet you didn’t,” Crosswind corrected him. “There’s still one left. It looks like it’s running away.”  
Suddenly, Gates’ voice came over the radio. “Hold on, Rogue Squadron. Don’t shoot that plane down. Follow it from a distance,” he ordered. “If we can figure out where the airbase that they’re staging these attacks from is, we can put a stop to them.”  
“What? That’s crazy,” Dodger said.  
“And why do you care?” Crosswind asked. “You’ll just end up running away anyways, so what does it matter?”  
Dodger didn’t reply, but rather, Vortex spoke up. “Alright. Let’s follow that bomber, but do not shoot it down. Everyone hold your fire until I give the word,” he told the squadron.  
“Wilco,” Eva answered as she took her finger off the trigger and slid into formation, where all eleven planes did their best to discreetly follow the lone Erusean bomber back to whatever base it came from.

After flying west for about half an hour, it still seemed as though the bomber didn’t realize that it was being followed, and despite a few itchy trigger fingers from the convicts, nobody had opened fire.  
“Jesus, this is so boring,” Axe muttered. “I’d prefer a straight-up dogfight to all this sneaking around.”  
“Crosswind, any idea where the bomber is going?” Charger asked.  
“Negative Rogue 3. Maintain your current course,” he told them. “Wait a minute,” he said suddenly. “Hostile aircraft are approaching at high speeds, bearing 200.”  
Eva looked down at her radar and quickly spotted the aircraft. She already knew what they were, and she had a feeling that the others did too. As soon as they were in visual range, her suspicions were confirmed as 18 MQ-99s flew right past the Erusean bomber and headed straight for them.  
“Well Axe, you did say you wanted a dogfight,” Magnum said lightheartedly.  
“Rogue Squadron, eliminate all of the drones but do it quickly. We can’t let that bomber slip away,” Crosswind ordered.  
Eva hit the afterburners and headed straight for the drones. The second she had a radar lock, she fired two missiles at two separate drones. One connected, but the other missed as its target made a sharp turn at the last second. As the drones all split up from their tight formation to engage Rogue Squadron, Eva looked around for the nearest target to engage, quickly picking out a drone that she could easily intercept. She banked left and the drone ended up right in front of her, giving her the opportunity to gun it down. Suddenly, her missile alert went off, and she instinctively went straight up into the sky. She heard the missile whiff by, but the drone on her tail was keeping behind her effortlessly.  
“Damn it,” she grunted. “Can someone get this drone off my tail?” Her tone was more annoyed than anything else. “I can’t shake the little shit.”  
“I’m on it,” Lucky quickly said as he turned to help Eva. He tried to take it out with a burst from his machine guns, and he made a few successful hits, but it wasn’t enough to deter the drone. He made a tight loop with a high-G turn and came back around, firing two missiles which both hit the drone successfully. “There you go, problem solved.”  
Eva let out a small sigh of relief. “Thanks, Lucky, I owe you one.”  
Lucky didn’t have time to respond as the somewhat panicked tone of Crosswind’s voice caught their attention. “Everyone heads up! Air contact coming in at high speeds,” he warned.  
Eva froze, getting a case of déjà vu. The thought of having to fight Zero again, or even worse, lose more people to him, scared her tremendously. It seemed the others thought the same thing, as Vortex asked, “What kind of aircraft is it?”  
“I don’t think it’s an aircraft at all. It’s moving too fast,” Crosswind replied.  
“What is it if it’s not an aircraft?” Trench wondered.  
Eva shot past the exploding frame of another drone and circled around to go for another one. Suddenly, a massive blue explosion went off in the air, rattling her plane. She let out a grunt as she fought to stay in control. “What the hell was that?”  
“Is everyone alright?” Vortex asked. “Crosswind, what do you have for us?”  
“I don’t have anything. I’ve got no idea what that was, but we know where that bomber is headed, so break off now,” Crosswind ordered.  
Dodger was already turning back in the direction they came from. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”  
“Charger, form an element,” Vortex said. “We’ll be the rear guard. Everyone else break off from the UAVs.”  
“Wilco, forming up on your wing, Vortex,” Charger replied.  
Together, the two of them started tearing through the remaining drones, including the one that had snuck up on Eva’s tail, which gave her a chance to break off that she gladly took. While she was incredibly relieved that she wouldn’t have to face off against Zero again, she couldn’t help but wonder what the explosion was, or where it came from. She looked over her shoulder to see how Vortex and Charger were doing and saw them destroy the last drone in a pincer attack before rejoining the formation.  
“Crosswind, all drones have been splashed,” Vortex reported.  
“Copy that, good work Rogue Squadron. Return to base,” Vortex responded.  
After a brief moment of silence as they all flew back, Slipstream was the first to speak up. “Eh, I’ve seen better flying,” he commented.  
Eva wanted to respond but decided that it would be best not to fan the flames, so they slipped into an admittedly sloppy formation and headed back to base.

“It’s good to see that we didn’t lose any planes,” Gates observed as he watched Rogue Squadron file into the briefing room and take their seats. “You successfully repelled the enemy counterattack, and you managed to work out where the enemy is staging their attacks. We’ll have to launch an operation to clear the airbase of hostiles before we retrieve Major Tillmin, but for now, get some rest. We’ll inform you when we’re ready to go. Dismissed.”


	18. Operation Stepping Stone

As Eva and Lucky sat alone at one of the tables in the mess hall, Eva decided to let her mind wander a bit. Just when she was about to finally be at peace, something would always happen to mess things up. More than anything, it was stressful. Eva rarely had a chance to unwind and process everything, so she ended up utilizing every moment she could take. Having Lucky and the others to rely on certainly helped, though. She was still amazed by the fact that, despite everything that had happened over the course of the past month, Lucky was able to be as funny and optimistic as he always was.

“Hey, Lucky. How do you think the op’s gonna go today?” Eva asked, breaking the rather uncomfortable silence that had been surrounding them for several minutes.

Lucky shrugged. “I’m not really sure, to be honest,” he admitted. “We’re probably gonna be neutralizing the airfield that we found the other day, but aside from that, I can’t really say.”

“Well, at least after today we won’t have to worry about being bombed as much,” Eva pointed out.

Lucky smiled. “Yeah! And that’ll give us more of an ability to move around. Plus, it’s definitely gonna make rescuing that officer a lot easier.”

Eva nodded and rested her arms on the table. “I just hope this officer is going to be worth all of the trouble it’s gonna take to get him out.”

“I’m sure it will,” Lucky said in his classic optimistic voice. “Having a major from the Erusean military is bound to come in handy,” he reminded her.

Eva replied with a shrug. “I guess you’re right. We’ll just have to wait and see, I guess.”

Suddenly, the reporter on the TV, who the two of them had been ignoring for the most part, said something that caught Eva’s attention. “In other news, we have just learned the identity of the Osean pilot accused of killing former president Harling.”

Eva turned around to face the TV and felt her heart sink. The face on the screen belonged to a young man with messy black hair and blue eyes, and it was one that Eva recognized instantly. Time seemed to slow down as her world seemed to collapse even further around her. “Trigger…” She just barely managed to get the word out.

Lucky tilted his head, clearly confused. “What did you say?”

“I- that’s- how…” Eva tripped over her words as she tried to something anything, but nothing came out. She sat there in stunned silence for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts. Finally, she took a deep breath in and out and looked over to Lucky. “Trigger was- _is_ one of my best friends,” she began. “He and I had the same flight instructor. The three of us had quite a few memories together.” If she hadn’t been on the verge of tears, she might actually have smiled as the memories came flooding in. Her mind drifted to their flight instructor, and she couldn’t help but think of what he would do if he saw them now. Knowing him, he’d probably tell some story about his time as a pilot in the Continental War and use it as a metaphor about not giving up or something. “Trigger was kind of like my big brother most of the time. He-.” Suddenly, a realization hit her like a gale-force wind. “Oh my god, they’re gonna kill him, aren’t they?”

Lucky, who was visibly concerned by now, tried his best to calm Eva down. “I’m sure they won’t kill him,” he said reasonably, but it didn’t seem to calm her down.

“They’re accusing him of killing one of, if not _the_ , most famous presidents in Osean history!” she insisted. “There’s no way he won’t get the death penalty. He doesn’t deserve that.” Eva exhaled sharply, trying to calm herself, but it didn’t work. Suddenly, she looked up to see Lucky flashing an assuring smile at her.

“Hey, don’t worry,” he told her gently. “It’ll be ok. Besides, you’ve got me and the others here with you.” Somehow, Lucky always knew exactly what to say to make Eva feel better.

Eva was about to reply, but Vortex suddenly walked up to them. “Hey, we gotta go. Gates wants to get the briefing started,” he explained.

“As I’m sure you’re all aware,” Gates began. “Erusea has been trying to bomb us since the war began. Now, we’ve been able to repel their attacks up to this point, but we have to put a stop to them once and for all.” He pulled up the briefing software and displayed a map of the region. “Fortunately, your efforts during our last sortie have paid off.”

“Psh, about time we do something useful instead of being your damn shields,” Magnum remarked from the back of the room.

Crosswind shot her a glare, followed by a quick “Shh!”

“We’ve determined that Erusea is staging their attacks against our base from an airfield to the west, about halfway between here and San Salvacion,” Gates continued. “Eliminating the enemy presence at this base accomplishes two tasks: it gets the enemy off our backs for a while, and it serves as a stepping stone to San Salvacion for our operation to retrieve Major Tillmin in a few days.”

Eva could hear Axe groan from behind her. “Oh, come on, air to ground missions? What a bunch of crap,” he muttered.

“However, this is not just a simple air raid,” Gates warned. “This airfield is within range of the Arsenal Birds’ defense network. Meaning it’s within the realm of possibility that it could show up.”

“There’s also whatever that explosion from before was,” Vortex reminded them.

Gates nodded at Vortex’s addition. “Exactly. Plus, there’s always the chance that drones will show up as well. If either the drones or the Arsenal Bird show up, you’ll have to deal with them.”

“Excuse me, what?” Dodger asked. “You can’t just say ‘deal with it’ when you’re talking about the damn Arsenal Birds!”

“Yeah, I’ve gotta agree,” Magic chimed in. “Those things are monstrous. We saw their capabilities firsthand in Farbanti.”

“I don’t know about you guys, but personally, I’d love to get back at those things for what they did to Meteor Squadron in Farbanti,” Charger said.

“Yeah, I think some payback is due,” Poet agreed.

“Speak for yourself,” Slipstream butted in. “I’m not gonna get myself killed fighting a damn robot.”

“You don’t exactly have a say in the matter,” Crosswind snapped. “You’re just convicts.”

Gates let out a heavy sigh that was laced with annoyance. “That’s enough, Crosswind! They may be convicts, but they’re still the ones who are going out there risking their lives, so I’m taking their opinions into consideration.” He turned his attention back to the pilots. “If the Arsenal Bird shows up, then you can take care of it however you see fit. Just know that one way or another, that airfield has to be clear of Erusean forces. Am I clear?”

Vortex nodded. “Crystal, sir.”

“Good, then get moving.”

As Eva circled around her plane, checking to see if everything was in order, she couldn’t help but feel a bit more determined than usual. She already had plenty of people she was fighting for: Her mother, Meteor Squadron, Captain Waller, and everyone else on the Kestrel II, and of course, her friends that she was still flying with. But now, she had one more person she was fighting for: Trigger. If she made it through the war, she’d have to make it her goal to clear his name. Until then, however, she had a war to fight. She climbed up the ladder into her plane and shut the canopy. After slipping on her oxygen mask, she switched the engines on and made one last check to make sure she was ready.

“Rogue Squadron, sortie ASAP.”

About half an hour passed as they took off from the base. By now, Rogue Squadron was around where they were when they got ambushed by drones a few days prior. While the pilots formerly in Nexus Squadron held a rigid formation, the others were all over the place.

“Hey, Vortex,” Eva said suddenly. “Can you teach me that move you were doing the other day?”

After a few seconds, Vortex finally responded. “All right, sure. The best way I can describe it is to make like you’re going to do a cobra, only you keep going and do a full loop,” he explained. “Once you get the hang of it, you can pull it off pretty easily.”

Eva took a deep breath as she lowered her speed. Tightening her grip on the control stick, she pitched up, but it wasn’t enough to go into a stall, so she just ended up raising her altitude a bit before correcting it. She lowered her speed to try again, and she almost got it. However, she stalled a little too early this time, causing her to drop in altitude. “Man, this is harder than you make it look,” Eva said with a slight chuckle. Making one final attempt, she dropped her speed and pulled up. Finally, she succeeded and went around in a tight loop.

“There ya go, Diamond. Now you’ve got the hang of it!” Vortex praised her. “Now, let’s stay focused. We’ve still got a little bit longer before we’re at the airfield.”

“All aircraft, caution!” Crosswind’s voice cut through Eva’s thoughts, forcing her back into the moment. “Enemy fighters inbound from the airfield. It looks like they scrambled interceptors.”

Almost immediately as Crosswind finished his warning, two formations of enemy fighters appeared on her HUD. One was a five-plane squadron of Su-37s, and the other was a four-plane squadron of MiG-21s.

“Roger, I see them,” Vortex replied. “Any sign of the Arsenal Bird?”

“Negative, not yet at least,” Crosswind replied. “No sign of any drones either.”

“Guess that means we need to take out as many enemies as we can before they show up,” Eva chimed in.

“Alright, Magic, Lucky, Axe, Dodger, and Trench, you guys get to work on their ground defenses,” Vortex ordered. “The rest of us will deal with the fighters.”

The squadron’s already loose formation broke apart as everyone split up to engage their targets. Eva set her sights on one of the MiG-21s and aimed right for it. The two planes got closer and closer as they flew right at each other. As soon as she was in range, Eva fired two missiles and made a hard left. The MiG-21 tried to fire its machine guns at her, but none of the shots connected as it exploded and tumbled down to the desert below. “Bandit down,” she announced.

“Rogue 3, Fox 2,” Charger called out, firing a missile at one of the Su-37s.

“Magnum, what the hell are you doing? I told you to engage the fighters.” The tone in Vortex’s voice sounded annoyed. Eva looked around and saw Magnum’s F-15C diving down toward the airfield.

“If the objective is to take out the defenses at the airfield, then don’t you think having more people attacking the airfield would make it go faster?” Magnum asked, clearly feeling just as annoyed as Vortex was.

“That’s not your call to make,” Poet chimed in. “As long as you stick with Vortex and do what he says, you’ll make it. I know from experience.”

“Psh, whatever,” Magnum scoffed. “I’ve been doing just fine at staying alive, and I don’t intend to stop now.”

Eva deployed flares to shake off a missile and dropped her speed, allowing the Su-37 on her tail to soar past her. She quickly switched to her 6AAMs and fired a single missile, taking out the enemy fighter within seconds. However, she didn’t have much time to process her kill, as the missile alert in her cockpit sounded off right after she shot it down. Eva slammed the throttle forward as hard as she could and broke right. She could hear the missile glide right past her, but she didn’t let it distract her. Taking a quick glance behind herself, Eva saw her pursuer and turned straight up into the sky. The MiG-21 followed her, albeit with some difficulty. Suddenly, Eva got an idea. She went into one high-G turn, and then another, and another. She craned her neck to look behind herself, and just as she predicted, the MiG-21 was following, but it was losing speed rapidly, eventually stalling and heading nose-first toward the ground. Eva wasn’t far from stalling herself, but with a bit more speed, she turned around to face the stalling plane and fired two standard missiles at it.

“Rogue Squadron, update: 50% of the airfield’s ground defenses have been neutralized,” Crosswind informed the pilots. “Still no sign of reinforcements. Keep it up.”

“Roger that,” Vortex replied. “We’ve almost got air superiority as well. Let’s keep it up, everyone. Just keep pushing, and we’ll be done before you know it.”

“Shit, Poet, can you get these guys off my back?” Trench asked, grunting as he tried to outmaneuver the two Su-37s trailing after him.

Poet sighed, clearly putting in some effort of his own. “I can’t. I’ve just about got this guy.”

“Hang on, Trench. I’ll help you out,” Eva told him as she looked around to find him. She quickly picked out his half-orange MiG-29 from the skies and sped up to close the distance between herself and the Su-37s behind him. She switched to her 6AAMs just as she got behind them and fired a single salvo. One plane went down, but the other managed to deploy flares quick enough to break the lock. Although, they still remained focused on trailing behind Trench. Eva briefly hit the afterburners to shorten the gap and get within machine gun range. She squeezed down on the trigger and lit them up, taking only a few seconds to bring the Su-37 down.

“Thanks, Diamond,” Trench said graciously.

Eva shrugged. “Just doing my job.”

“Looks like that was the last of the fighters. How’s everyone holding up?” Vortex asked. Everyone replied with some variation of “Good.” or “Fine” before he spoke again. “Crosswind, this is Rogue 1. The airfield has been cleared of enemy forces.”

The extended silence after Vortex spoke made Eva nervous. When the AWACS was silent, it was almost never a good thing. “Heads up, Rogue Squadron. You’ve got MQ-99s inbound straight from the west, but it looks like there’s something else too. It’s way faster than the drones, so stay on your guard.”

Eva tightened her grip on the control stick and looked for the fastest blip on her radar. This time, it had to be Zero, and she was ready for him. Crosswind definitely wasn’t exaggerating when he said it was fast, but that didn’t stop Eva from flying at it head-on. At first, she thought the small, light gray shape she saw was just a smudge on her canopy, but that theory was dead in the water as soon as a small, slim shape soared right past her. Eva could barely see it, it was basically a blur, but after turning around to face it again, she realized it wasn’t Zero. It was definitely a drone, but like none, she had ever seen before. It turned straight up into the sky before dropping into a cobra and heading straight down while rolling all the way.

“What the hell is that thing?” Charger asked.

“Doesn’t matter. Take it down,” Crosswind said in a very matter-of-fact tone.

“Diamond, form up on me. We’ll deal with that thing. The rest of you, take out the other drones,” Vortex ordered.

Eva increased her speed and chased after the drone. “Already on it.” She quickly got a lock and fired a missile at it, but the drone made a sharp turn at the last second, shaking off the missile. Once again, the drone went straight up into the sky, and Eva followed it. She fired another missile since it was moving in a straight line, but almost immediately after she did, the drone pulled the same maneuver as before and went from going straight up to straight down within seconds. It unleashed a hail of machine-gun fire, shooting Eva’s missile out of the sky and rattling her plane as it shot past her.

“Diamond, you ok?” Vortex asked as he tried to land a hit on the drone, which it effortlessly dodged.

Eva scanned her instruments as she leveled her plane out. “Yeah, everything seems to be functioning ok,” she told him. She looked around and spotted Vortex doing his best to chase after the drone. Eva tried to guess where they were going and went to cut it off. Just as the drone was about to be in range, it made a sharp turn away from her. “Damn it,” she grunted. “This thing sure is nimble.”

“Do you guys need help?” Lucky offered.

“No,” Vortex stepped in. “Stay on those other drones. We’ll deal with it. Diamond, I’m gonna let this thing get on my tail. You shoot it down while it’s chasing me.”

“Vortex, that’s crazy!” Eva protested. “It’ll shoot you down for sure.”

“It only has machine guns. It’ll be harder for it to take me out,” Vortex reasoned. “Besides, I have faith in you.” Eva could tell he had a smirk on his face as he said that.

Eva made a sharp turn toward Vortex’s position and made her way over to him. “Fine, let’s just do this quickly.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Vortex said as he pulled up and looped around, and just as he predicted, the drone slipped behind him and started firing its machine guns. “Now, Diamond!”

Eva made the tightest loop she possibly could without stalling and found herself right behind the drone. She fired her machine guns and shot two missiles, destroying it. “Got it!” she announced proudly.

“Looks like it’s clear skies all around,” Crosswind told them. “Mission is complete, Rogue Squadron RTB.”

“Well, it’s about time a mission went off without a hitch,” Axe commented.

“I’m surprised Dodger didn’t run away once the drones showed up,” Slipstream teased.

Dodger chose not to reply, and instead, the squadron headed back to the base in silence.

“The mission was a resounding success,” Gates said, clearly pleased by the work of Rogue Squadron. “You cleared out the airfield and repelled the reinforcements, and most importantly, we didn’t have any casualties. The mission to extract Tillmin will be taking place in a few days. Until then, get some rest. You’ve earned it. Dismissed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe I should stop setting writing goals for myself in author's notes because they almost never happen. I don't really have an excuse this time, I'm just kinda lazy and easily distracted. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter.


	19. Unexpected Complication

There wasn’t much about Air Force Base 262 that Eva truly hated, but the heat was quickly turning into Eva’s least favorite thing about the place. She wasn’t quite sure what she was expecting from a base in the middle of the desert, but she would’ve at least appreciated some rain. Most of the time, she tried to beat the heat by staying in the main building, but today, she found herself lying under the wing of her Su-35 in the hangar. The floor was surprisingly clean and well-maintained, considering the circumstances they were in. Eva found herself looking at the line on her wing where the gray camo is overtaken by the blue she put on, not really thinking about anything in particular. Suddenly, she heard a set of footsteps making their way toward her. Eva sat up to see Poet walking over to her with the kind of smirk that made her feel like she was about to get chastised for something.

“You don’t seem to be in a very celebratory mood,” Poet said.

Eva tilted her head, feeling confused by that statement. “Is there a reason why I should be?” She asked, climbing out from under her plane and getting to her feet. Considering how wrong everything had gone over the past month, she wasn’t sure what there was to celebrate.  
Poet frowned. “You’re not serious, right?” The tone in his voice had a mixture of disbelief and amusement. “You’re telling me that you don’t remember anything significant about June 14th for you?”

“Wait, it’s the 14th already?” Eva could’ve sworn that it was still earlier in the month, but after the Kestrel II sank, she didn’t really bother keeping track of time. The only time she took note of the date was when she happened to spot it on the screen during briefings, and even then, she didn’t pay it any attention. She ran her fingers through her hair as she let out a heavy sigh. “Man, I’m getting old.”

“Yeah, you are,” Poet teased her with a light nudge. “Well, I guess that means I’m the first one to wish you a happy birthday.”

Eva’s mind drifted back to the Kestrel II and how only a few weeks before the war began, they were all celebrating Lucky and Poet’s birthday since they were born on the same day, although Poet was a year older. “I assume you’re here to bring me to whatever the others have planned?” She asked.

Poet shook his head. “Nah, we’re saving that until after the mission. I’m here to let you know that Gates wants us for the briefing.”

“Oh, well, I supposed we’d better get going then.” Eva and Poet broke out into a light jog as they left the hangar and made their way to the main building.

Gates took a deep breath in and out as he started up the briefing software. “Listen, I know that this mission isn’t going to be easy,” he began. “You’re going well into the Arsenal Birds’ defense network to a major city under Erusean control.”

“I’m assuming that there’s a but here?” Magnum asked in a seemingly agitated tone.

“ _But_ if we pull this off, we could make a serious difference in this war for the better. Perhaps even enough to determine who wins,” Gates continued. “Major Tillmin is sure to have plenty of intelligence that we’ll be able to put to good use.”

“Except for the fact that we can’t contact anyone,” Dodger muttered under his breath.

“Who knows,” Gates said with a shrug. “Maybe Tillmin will know where this communications jammer is so we can take it out. There’s always a chance.”

“We might actually be able to go back to Fort Grays,” Eva heard Magic whisper. The thought of going back to Fort Grays felt so surreal. With everything Eva and the others had gone through, there were times when she wasn’t sure that they’d make it back. Although she still hoped to get back there as soon as possible. If she was quick enough, perhaps she could make it back while Trigger’s trial was still underway and help prove his innocence.

“Anyways, it’s time for the mission details, so listen up,” Gates said sternly. He zoomed the screen into San Salvacion. “Our main goal is to get this done as fast as we can to avoid either of the Arsenal Birds showing up. Rogue Squadron will approach the airport from the east, taking out any AA defenses that would serve as a problem for our ground team, Deviant Squadron, to land and make their way to Tillmin. Once they’re on the ground, Rogue Squadron will clear a path for them by taking out additional ground defenses and keeping their air power busy. After Deviant Squadron has Tillmin, it’s just a matter of covering their retreat.” The expression on Gates’ face suddenly got serious. “I know this sounds easy, but this is going to be dangerous,” he reminded everyone. “Be careful. I want you _all_ to come back alive. Am I understood?”

The convicts all lazily muttered some sort of acknowledgment while Eva and the others saluted as they stood up.

“Good, now get going, let’s get this done,” Gates said, cracking a smile.

Eva let out a sharp exhale as she loosened her grip on the control stick as she skimmed over her instruments, making sure everything was still in order. She hated these long flights to missions. They did nothing but put her on edge. The fact that nobody was saying anything wasn’t helping either. She felt like being the one to break the silence but ultimately decided against it. Instead, she briefly let her eyes wander around the sky, looking at the formation Rogue Squadron held and the clouds above them. She glanced down at her radar and looked at the dozen or so friendly units that made up Deviant Squadron trailing a fair distance behind.

“Rogue Squadron heads up.” Eva felt herself jolt a bit at Crosswind’s voice. “Four enemy aircraft detected. It looks like it’s just a patrol,” he observed.

“Roger that, do we know if they’ve seen us?” Vortex asked.

“Affirmative, it looks like they’re turning to engage you now. Clear the way for Deviant Squadron,” Crosswind ordered.

The enemy aircraft finally appeared on Eva’s HUD: four F-14s heading straight for them. They broke their formation to engage, and Rogue Squadron quickly did the same. Eva made an upward U-turn to get behind the fighter that flew right over her head. By the time she had leveled her plane out, the F-14 was already turning left. Eva quickly fired two missiles, but the Tomcat had already turned too much, and they went right past it. As soon as she mimicked the left turn, the F-14 was already flying inverted and turned straight down to the ground. This time, Eva made a much sharper turn and managed to get close enough behind them to finish them with her machine guns. She looked down at her radar and saw that the others had taken care of the rest of the enemies.

“Crosswind, all enemy fighters are down,” Vortex reported. Although the extended silence from Crosswind caused everyone some worry. “Crosswind?” Vortex repeated.

“Shit! All aircraft, caution an Arsenal Bird is entering the AO,” he said frantically. “We must be right on the border of the defense network. Rogue Squadron, engage and buy time for Deviant Squadron to fall back.”

“Screw that! I’m getting the hell out of here,” Dodger said, already turning back toward the base.

“What?” Magic asked in disbelief. “Are you bailing on us?”

“Dodger, get back here and help us buy time. That’s an order!” Vortex snapped.

“Will you quit acting so damn high and mighty?” Magnum replied. “We didn’t ask for you to show up, and we don’t want you here.”

“At least they’re not running away,” Trench muttered.

Slipstream immediately took the opportunity to jump into the argument. “Hey, speaking of high and mighty, it’s Mister Two Sin Lines!” he sneered.

“You know that you’re a convict too, right?” Poet jumped in to defend Trench.

“At least I _act_ like it, and not like some damn king amongst his peasants,” Slipstream shot back. “Besides, I don’t know if you know this or not, but two sin lines is a hell of a lot worse than one.”

“Why don’t you just back off Slipstream?” Eva snapped, tired of hearing the same argument.

“What, you think because you shot down some fancy drone that makes you better than us?” Axe demanded.

“Don’t be so sure of yourself. Diamond’s a better pilot than you’ll _ever_ be!” Lucky jumped in.

“Oh yeah? How about we put that to the test? You wouldn’t last two minutes going up against me,” Axe replied.

“If you so much as think about shooting them, it’ll be your ass,” Charger warned.

“Why don’t you go ahead and keep threatening my pilots? See how far you’ll get,” Magnum challenged.

“ENOUGH!” Vortex yelled with a level of anger Eva had never heard from him before, silencing anyone else that may have been talking. “We can hash all this out when we get back, but for now, let’s deal with the more immediate threat!” he ordered.

“You know what,” Magnum began with a smug tone. “Maybe Dodger had the right idea, bailing while he still can. I wonder if I can still catch up to him.” Eva watched as Magnum, Axe, and Slipstream all turned away from the Arsenal Bird and followed Dodger.

“You spineless sacks of shit!” Crosswind snarled. “Get back here right now!” he demanded.

“What are you gonna do about it?” Magnum challenged. “It’s not like you or Gates actually punish us.”

“You’d better choose your next words _very_ carefully. Whatever Gates does to me, I’ll make sure you never fly ever again,” Crosswind threatened, clearly angered by something Eva was unaware of.

Eva waited for Magnum to reply, but perhaps for the best, she said nothing. Instead, Trench was the one who spoke up. “Don’t worry, I’m still here,” he assured them.

“Good, at least one of you has a conscience,” Crosswind muttered.

Eva set her sights on the Arsenal Bird. The huge, yet slim, white shape effortlessly glided through the air, and dozens of MQ-101s dropped down from underneath its wings. Eva felt her hand clench up into a fist around her control stick. She may not be able to fight Zero but being able to avenge Torch and Onyx was just fine with her.

It took all the restraint Eva had not to switch on her afterburners and fly headfirst at the Arsenal Bird. Instead, she stayed in a tight formation with the others. It didn’t last very long, though. A light started flickering on the front of the Arsenal Bird and slowly got brighter.

“Everyone, break now!” Vortex ordered, already banking left.

Eva followed Vortex with a sharp left turn as a laser shot out from the Arsenal Bird and right past the pilots. “This thing is nuts!” she exclaimed. “How are we supposed to bring it down?”

“Take out the propellors,” Crosswind told them. “Without those, it should stall and crash into the ground.”

“Charger, Poet, and Diamond form an element and attack those propellors. Magic, Trench, and Lucky, we’ll deal with the drones,” Vortex instructed before firing missiles at the MQ-101s coming head-on at them.

Eva quickly switched to her 6AAMs and fired a single salvo at the approaching drones as she flew past them with Charger and Poet, scoring two successful hits. She didn’t have long to acknowledge it, however, because a wave of missiles suddenly shot up from the Arsenal Bird, soaring high into the sky before twisting and turning to find their targets. Eva heard the missile warning start to beep in her cockpit and went straight up to climb higher into the sky. The beeping got faster and faster as she saw the missiles get closer on her radar. Not wanting to take a chance, Eva dove back down and deployed flares. While she flew straight down, she saw another drone heading her way, although it was quickly shot down by Magic, and with the immediate threats out of her way, Eva set her sights on the Arsenal Bird’s propellors. She fired two standard missiles at one of the main missiles and fired another salvo of 6AAMs. After all of her shots hit their marks, she pulled up just before she would’ve collided with the Arsenal Bird and quickly looped around to get behind it. Charger was firing everything he had at the propellors, while Poet was taking out the missile launchers on the Arsenal Bird. Eva just finished stalling one of the sub-propellors when another light started glowing on the Arsenal Bird. This time, it was on the top.

“Everyone, get away from the Arsenal Bird!” Crosswind yelled. “It’s readying its Active Protection System. It’ll cook you whole!”

Eva slipped into formation with Charger and Poet and got as far away as they could. Just as she looked over her shoulder, the light turned into a giant sphere of energy around the Arsenal Bird, whose edge reached out only a few meters behind them. The shield was close enough that Eva could hear the shield practically radiating energy, even through the thick glass of the canopy. The low humming sound made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up straight.

“That was _way_ too close!” Poet said with a hint of relief in his voice.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Charger agreed. “But now that the damn thing has its shields up. We can’t touch it.”

“You don’t need to,” Crosswind commented. “Deviant Squadron has withdrawn from the AO. Get out of there and return to base. You’ve more than proven yourselves today.” Eva picked up on some concern in the AWACS controller’s voice.

“Right, but it’s not as simple as just flying away. We need one or two people to form a rearguard and deal with the drones to give the rest of us cover,” Vortex told the others. “I’d do it myself, but my right flap is acting up,” he explained.

“I’ll do it,” Eva quickly volunteered. If there was anything that she could do to keep the others from dying, then she would gladly do it without question.

“And I’ll go with her,” Lucky stepped up. “Can’t let Diamond do all the work by herself,” he added lightly.

“Be safe, you two,” Charger reminded them as he turned to break off.

Eva pitched her plane up and into a U-turn and found herself right behind a group of UAVs, bringing them all down with a 6AAM salvo. She quickly looked to her left to find Lucky’s Rafale and see if he needed any help. However, he was holding his own quite well, chasing after several MQ-101s at once. Seeing that Lucky was doing fine, Eva turned the other way and looked for more drones. She rolled onto her side and fired missiles at two UAVs before making another high-G turn. While she expected both missiles to find their marks, only one did, which caused Eva to look back at the drone and chase after it again. She fired another missile, but the drone was already too far into a turn and evaded it. While pulling herself into a sort of diagonal turn, Eva kept a steady lock on the drone. “Come on, just sit still already,” she murmured to herself. Finally, the MQ-101 had a brief moment where it moved in a straight line, and Eva quickly took advantage of the opportunity to shoot down the drone.

“Lucky, Diamond, we’re clear. Get out of there,” Vortex ordered.

“Roger that, we’re pulling out,” Lucky responded as he shot down the last drone in front of him.

Eva deployed flares and made a sharp turn to meet up with Lucky and shake off a drone that had crept up on her. They switched their afterburners on and flew away as fast as they could so the drones wouldn’t follow. Luckily, they returned back to the Arsenal Bird, whose shield had been lowered to allow them to dock again. Eva looked back at the massive drone one last time, disappointed that she couldn’t have done more to beat it up before flying off to meet up with the others.

“Rogue 10, your approach looks good,” the Control Tower informed Eva. “Just set it down nice and easy.”

Eva let her speed drop just a bit more before lightly setting her landing gear down on the runway. She heard the tires squeak as the plane jerked from the sudden stop, and her along with it. As she taxied off the runway and into the hangar, she paused for a moment while switching off the engines and just took a deep breath in and out. “Well, I suppose that could’ve gone better,” she said, popping the canopy open and climbing down the ladder that the ground crew had brought over. She felt a wave of relief wash over herself once she had her helmet and flight gear off. “I’m not really sure what I was expecting, to be honest.”

“You ok?” Lucky asked once he was out of his plane. “It got pretty dicey near the end there.”

Eva couldn’t help but appreciate Lucky’s concern. He was always putting the others before himself. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she answered. Suddenly, another thought popped into her head, and she looked around the hangar. “Where’s Vortex?”

“I think he’s already headed over to the debriefing,” Lucky speculated. “Either that, or he’s going to chew out those cowards for bailing on us. He looked pretty pissed but not nearly as pissed as Crosswind.”

Eva wasn’t sure if there was ever a time where she had seen Vortex genuinely angry, and quite frankly, she didn’t want to. “Let’s just head down to the debriefing. Although I doubt there’s gonna be much to debrief.” She walked alongside Lucky out of the hangar and into the main building. “Some birthday this has turned out to be,” she muttered.

Lucky looked over at her and smiled. “Oh, don’t you worry,” he said cheerfully. “The day isn’t over yet. We’ll make sure you enjoy yourself,” he assured her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah, this chapter turned out way longer than I expected it to. Still proud of how it turned out though. Except for the fact that it feels a bit too similar to mission 3. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter.


	20. Friction

Lucas looked out the window at the golden sun starting to disappear behind the desert horizon as he made his way through the halls of the command building. He stopped and took a deep breath, taking a moment to collect his thoughts and figure out how he was going to say what was on his mind. One thing was certain, though; He needed to do something. After how atrociously the operation from that day went, he knew that for a fact. He could see the rift forming between the convicts and his friends, and as the squadron leader, it was his job to mend it.

Satisfied with what he was going to say, Lucas pressed on through the hall to Gates' office at the very end. As he got closer to the door, however, he started to hear a soft sound coming from inside Gates' office. Lucas' ears quickly identified it as music, guitar music to be precise. It wasn't a very complicated melody, yet it was a very elegant and beautiful piece. Lucas stood just outside the door for a moment to listen to the song before gently tapping his knuckles against the door a few times.

The music stopped, and a brief moment of silence set in. "Come in," Gates said. Lucas slowly pushed the door in before stepping into Gates' office and shutting the door behind him. Gates sat at his desk, holding a guitar. He looked up and smiled warmly at Lucas. "Ah, Captain Haynes- would you prefer I call you Vortex?"

Lucas paused. Truth be told, the name Vortex had become so intertwined with his identity that it felt natural, but he never forgot about the Vortex he knew. He still felt a tremendous amount of guilt every time he thought about her, and every time her memory found its way into Lucas' mind, he wished he could've done more to save her. "Captain Haynes is fine, sir," he finally answered. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

Gates shook his head, still smiling. "It's alright. I don't mind."

"You're uh, very good with that guitar," Lucas said, scratching the back of his head. He felt like he should make small-talk before bringing up what he wanted to talk about, but he found that he struggled with small-talk at the least convenient of times.

Gates looked down at his guitar and smiled before setting it down and leaning it against his desk. "It was my wife's. I decided to learn to play after she passed a few years back; cancer," he explained. The expression on his face conveyed sadness and grief, but behind that, Lucas could see a glint of happiness in the commander's eyes, as if he recalled some pleasant memories. "That song I was playing was her favorite. She used to play it at the end of every day." He cracked a small smile. "Even now, she was still better at it than I am."

Lucas nodded. "Well, I'm sorry for your loss."

"She was a great woman," Gates carried on, still smiling. "When I met her, I was in a dark place. It was because of her that I was able to see the good in people and want to help them realize that good. I probably wouldn't have taken this post if it weren't for her. I know if she had the chance to try and help these convicts change for the better, she would take it. Although sometimes I'm not sure if I'm doing as good of a job as she would have…" His voice trailed off, and he briefly looked out the window before snapping his attention back to Lucas. "Sorry, I went off on a tangent there. Anyway, what can I do for you?"

Lucas straightened his posture as he spoke up. "Actually, sir, it's about the convicts. I'm sure you've heard by now, but there was a bit of a falling out on the mission today. I'm having trouble getting to them, and nothing I'm trying is working," he explained. "I was hoping that maybe you could give me some advice on how to get to them, or perhaps some insight into why they're here in the first place."

Gates rested his elbows on the desk and placed his head into his hands. "I was afraid something like this would happen," he said with a heavy sigh. "Don't worry. It's not your fault. They can be… difficult to deal with at times. It does get a bit frustrating, though. They're all exceptional pilots. I just wish that I could help them overcome these personas that they've adapted because of this lifestyle."

"Yeah, I've seen them fly, and there's a lot of potential there," Lucas agreed. "But it's like they don't realize that we're on the same side or something. If they put as much effort into fighting the Eruseans as they do into fighting us, the war might've been over by now." He smirked at his joke, but the smirk quickly faded as he got back to the subject. "It really is frustrating."

Gates nodded. "I understand. Crosswind struggles a lot with keeping them in line."

"How did someone like Crosswind, who seems to be your polar opposite, end up being the AWACS controller for this base?" Lucas asked, tilting his head. The question had been eating away at him for some time, but he never really had a good time to ask until now.

Up until that point, Gates had retained some of his kind and understanding expression. After Lucas asked his question, though, all of that vanished. "He wasn't always like that," Gates finally said after a long pause. "There was an incident that happened between him and the convicts, specifically Magnum, but I don't want to go into much more detail than that. It was, without a doubt, my biggest failure as the CO of this base."

Gates' response raised more questions than answers for Lucas, but he didn't pry any further. He could tell it wasn't a subject that wasn't brought up very often, presumably for a good reason. "I see. So, in regards to getting them to be more cooperative, do you have any suggestions?"

"Honestly, I don't really have much for you in terms of suggestions, but perhaps telling you a bit about them might help you come up with some ideas," Gates suggested.

Lucas shrugged. He wasn't quite sure how much it would help, but something was at least better than nothing. "Sure. What have you got for me?" he asked.

Gates turned his attention to his computer monitor and started typing something, but Lucas couldn't see what. "Magnum was court-martialed for killing one of her fellow pilots. Apparently, they tried to attack her and render her incapacitated to the point of not being able to fly anymore, but she was found guilty anyway."

"God…" Lucas muttered. He couldn't help but think about what would motivate a person to do something like that. Was there something Magnum had done to warrant such a thing? "What about the others?"

"Axe was arrested for armed robbery," Gates explained. "He tried to rob a bank, but he didn't get very far, and Dodger was caught trying to desert."

Lucas scoffed, finding Dodger's crime, not just ironic but painfully so. "That doesn't surprise me one bit. The one who runs away was arrested for trying to run away."

"It really is a shame that he's always the first break off," Gates added with a nod. "Based not only on his records but on how I've seen him in action, he seems to be a fairly decent pilot. I bet if he had a reason to fight instead of being forced, that might motivate him," he theorized. However, upon realizing that he was getting off-track again, he directed his attention back in front of his monitor. "As for Slipstream," he continued. "Originally, the police wanted to pull him over because they suspected he was driving while intoxicated, and this turned out to be the case, but he tried to evade arrest at first."

Lucas took a deep breath in and out. Everything Gates was telling him was certainly useful information, but there was still one pilot that he had yet to hear about, and it was the one he was perhaps the most curious about. For his seemingly close connection with Poet, if nothing else. He looked up at Gates and asked the question that had been on his mind since the first day they arrived at the base. "What about Trench?"

* * *

Jesse felt his stomach tie up in knots as he approached the doorway into the mess hall. He knew he had to have this conversation eventually, but that still didn't change the fact that he was remarkably nervous. He took a moment to steady his breathing, and while he did, he could practically hear his heart pounding against his ribcage. He grabbed the corner of the wall and leaned into the doorway, only poking his head in to scan the room. To his surprise, nobody was there, or at least, nobody he knew. Even his friends, who he would almost always find in the mess hall of the Kestrel II, were nowhere to be found. More importantly, though, Trench wasn't there either. Jesse let out a sigh of relief at the thought of not having to have this conversation for just a few more minutes. Although, he couldn't really think of where else to look. He didn't know if he was even allowed in the cellblock where the convicts slept, and even if he was, he didn't know which cell was Trench's. "I'll check the hangar, I guess," he said aloud to himself. "If he's not there, I guess I'll just wander around until I find him." With that, he turned around and left the same way he came.

Even after being on the base for two weeks, Jesse would still find himself making a wrong turn or two. He always was rotten with directions. Eventually, though, he managed to find his way to the entrance of the main building and headed out the door. With the sun practically completely set, the chilly desert air was starting to fill the air. Jesse turned to his right and started walking alongside the runway over to three large hangars. He went right past the first one where he knew he and the other Nexus Squadron pilots' planes were being stored and headed to the second one, whose doors were wide open. His eyes went over each plane; they all had their entire left side painted orange, and their wheels were booted. In addition, a chain kept each plane stuck to the ground. Finally, Jesse's eyes landed on the MiG-29, and just as he suspected, Trench was sitting in the cockpit. He made sure to keep his footsteps quiet as he slowly approached, making sure not to startle Trench. "Ahem," he cleared his throat to make his presence noticed.

Trench, who was staring blankly at the instruments in his cockpit, looked away and down at Jesse. "Oh. Hey, Poet," he said meekly.

"Hey," Jesse said, smiling warmly. "You know you really made an impression on the others today. It was brave of you to stay behind and help fight that Arsenal Bird." He decided to start off small as to not risk overwhelming him. It was so strange to Jesse. Trench was one of the most sociable and outgoing people he had ever known, but now, it was like he was a shell of his former self.

Perhaps for the first time since Jesse arrived on the base, he saw Trench smile. "I guess," Trench said absent-mindedly. "I didn't really think much of it at the moment. I just did it," he explained.

"If you ask me, I'd say that's a good thing," Jesse told him. "Your conscience told you to do something, and you acted on it." He felt the knots in his stomach return as he looked up at Trench. "Hey, do you mind coming down here? I wanna ask you about something." The tone in his voice shifted to a more serious one. Without saying a word, Trench climbed out of the cockpit and jumped down onto the hangar floor. It was then that Jesse realized how terrible Trench looked. He was practically a skeleton, and his skin was paler than Jesse had ever seen. Not only that, but his hair, which used to always be nice and combed, looked like an animal tried to make its nest there, only to give up. "Are you feeling alright? Like… are you getting enough sleep?" Jesse felt hesitant to ask, mostly because he was unsure of what Trench's response would be.

"Does it matter?" Trench asked bitterly, shooting Jesse a glare. "I'm just a convict. My health is irrelevant." He slumped down against the frame of his plane and leaned his head on his knees.

"It _absolutely_ matters," Jesse insisted, sitting down next to Trench. "We're still friends, which means I care about you and want you to be alright." He looked over at Trench, pausing for a moment. "So, I wanted to ask you…" Jesse's heart pounded as he tried to form the words in his mouth. "How did you end up here?"

Jesse at least expected Trench to look up at him, but his gaze was still staring blankly at the floor. "Do you remember the old CO of the base we used to be stationed at?" Trench finally asked.

It was hard to forget the man. Jesse could only describe him as anything but pleasant. "Yeah, what about him?"

"Well, after you got transferred to Fort Grays, and I didn't, I just felt… I don't know, lonely. We had been with each other since flight school, and I wasn't really good friends with anyone else on the base." Trench finally lifted his head up from off of his knees and looked over at Jesse. "I was feeling down, and I guess I started slacking a bit because the CO noticed. He came up to me in that big winding staircase and started yelling at me like he never had before." Jesse saw Trench's hands clench up into fists. "I just felt so stressed because of you being gone and all, and at that point, I didn't really care what was gonna happen to me. I reached out and punched him, but…" He was visibly struggling to get the words out. "But he staggered a bit too far back, and… he fell all the way down."

Jesse wasn't really sure what to say. He obviously didn't like the man, but he never would've wanted him to die. What was worse, though, was that he felt like this whole situation was his fault. If he never got transferred to Fort Grays, none of this would have happened, and Trench wouldn't be in the situation he's in now. He took a deep breath, put a hand on Trench's shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. It's not fair. More importantly, though, I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you." For a while, the two of them just stayed there in silence, and Jesse let Trench release all of the stress and emotion that must have been building up since he got sent here. A few more minutes passed, and Jesse looked up at the clock hanging on the wall, panicking as he realized how late it was. "Shit, I've gotta go. Can you promise me that you're gonna take care of yourself?" he asked as he stood up.

"Wait- can I come with you? I honestly just feel like I need to be with someone right now," Trench quickly asked.

Jesse smiled warmly and extended a hand to his friend, who was still on the ground. "Of course, I'm sure the others won't mind. I'm going to meet up with them in the mess hall."

Trench took Jesse's hand and pulled himself up to his feet, and together, the two of them left the hangar and headed back into the main building.

* * *

A beam of moonlight poured in through the window to Eva's room. She sat on the side of her bed, not really sure what to do. All she knew was that she didn't feel like sleeping yet. Although she expected Magic to be back from wherever it is that she went by now. It had almost been half an hour since she left. Suddenly, she saw something slide into her room from underneath the door. It looked like a piece of paper, folded in half. Curiously, Eva knelt down and picked it up. She could see writing on it but didn't read it just yet. Instead, she opened the door to her room and poked her head out into the hallway. She expected to see who it was that left the paper there, but the hall was completely empty. "Huh, well, this isn't weird at all," she muttered sarcastically to herself. Eva shut the door again and sat back down on the bed with the piece of paper still in her hand. She looked at the writing on the front and started to read.

"Diamond, I know this past month has been pretty shitty (an understatement, I know), but we wanted to do something for you to make sure you could at least have a decent birthday, so we all got together to write this card. I know this sounds sappy and all, but you've come such a long way in such a short amount of time, and I couldn't be prouder of you. You and the others are the greatest pilots I could ask for, and quite frankly, I probably wouldn't even be alive without you, so here's to hoping you have a happy birthday, even if the mission today sucked. -Vortex"

Eva couldn't help but smile, and she felt a single tear start to slide down her face, but she quickly brushed it off. "Oh, you guys…" she muttered to herself. She opened up the card and saw it covered in writing, all with varying degrees of legible handwriting.

"Hey kid, I've never really been good at writing these kinds of things, but I'll just say that I've gotten to watch you go from our nugget to a total badass in such a short amount of time. (I like to think I had a part in that.) Needless to say, I'm glad I've been able to meet you. Have a happy birthday. -Charger"

"We may not have known each other for very long (even if it feels like it), but I like to think that we've been through a lot together, and because of that, I've really gotten to know you. You're smart, funny, and a good friend. I hope you have a happy birthday, Diamond because you deserve it. -Poet (P.S You're an amazing pilot -Trench)"

"Hey, roomie, happy birthday! I know the mission went terribly today, but you never fail to kick Erusea's ass. We've had a lot of fun conversations together late at night, and those are probably some of my best experiences with our squadron (don't tell the others). Anyway, happy birthday! -Magic"

Eva scanned through the card again, curious as to where Lucky's note was until she flipped the card over to the back and saw the longest message out of all of them.

" ~~Diamond~~ \- Eva, I've been thinking long and hard about what I wanted to say here ever since I came up with this idea, but to be honest, I don't really think any words I could come up with could do any justice. When I first met you on that transport to Fort Grays, I never would have thought that you would end up being the best friend I could possibly ask for. We've been through the best of times and arguably the worst of times, but you managed to come through all of it, and really, you inspired me to do the same. I know things may not be great right now, and they haven't been since this whole mess started, but I think we're gonna get through it just fine. In the meantime, I hope you're able to enjoy what little of your birthday is left by the time you get this. - ~~Sean~~ Lucky"

It was then that Eva noticed she had started to cry again. She smiled and wiped the tears away. "God, I really lucked out when I got assigned to such a great squadron," she murmured. "I just wish Trigger could've been here too," she added hesitantly. She still wanted to get back to Fort Grays with the slim hope that she could help sway his trial and help clear her friend's name, but after what had happened that day, she didn't have the most hope. However, she pushed that thought aside for the moment, folding up the card and putting it securely in one of the pockets of her flight suit before lying down on her bed, looking up at the ceiling as she drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, I think this may be one of my favorite 'on the ground' chapters so far. (It's either this or Aftermath.) This chapter was actually supposed to come out earlier, but then Project Wingman released, and I absolutely love it. In fact, I'll probably end up writing a fic for it sometime in the near future, so watch out for that. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter!


	21. Combat Flight Test #2

The small base hidden in the woods was always bustling with activity. Mechanics worked on planes or other parts, researchers were analyzing data and making conclusions, and Adrian and his team were improving the Skyshard. However, the one person who seemingly had nothing to do most of the time was Jacob. The research team was extensive with their data analysis, so it took them several days to entirely go through all of Jacob's information brought back with each test. As a result, he had long periods where he ended up grounded, and that was also the case with his plane still under repairs after the dogfight with the Osean pilots in Farbanti. To keep himself on his toes, Jacob spent a fair amount of time working out. Not only did he find it necessary to keep himself in top shape, but even for someone like him, flying an advanced fighter like the Skyshard was very physically demanding, so he wanted to be as physically fit as he could be.

The young mercenary was alone in his quarters. He cleared out space in the center of the room and was presently doing a set of push-ups on his knuckles. As his body rhythmically dropped and rose, Jacob kept a mental count of how many he had done up to that point.

‘ _Twenty-three… twenty-four… twenty-five_.’ He lowered himself to the ground one more time and laid there for a moment, panting as he regained his breath. Suddenly, he heard a knock on his door from just outside. “Come in,” he called out as he sat up.

A moment later, Doctor Francis stepped in and nodded a faint greeting to Jacob. “Are you busy with anything at the moment?” he asked.

“It wouldn’t matter even if I was,” Jacob told him as he got to his feet. “I’m on your payroll, so you’re the one who dictates if I’m busy or not. What do you need?”

“We need you for an op; we’ll explain in the briefing room. Besides, I figured we could turn this into another combat test,” Doctor Francis said, gesturing toward the rough direction of the briefing room.

Jacob raised an eyebrow inquisitively. “How am I supposed to go out on any operations when the plane is busted?” he asked.

“The mechanics just finished the repairs a few hours ago,” Doctor Francis explained. “Try not to break it again,” he added sternly. “Although, to be honest, it’s not like it’ll matter that much. We’re having a new model delivered in a few days. I’d still rather you not damage a highly experimental and expensive prototype, though.”

Jacob’s mood drastically improved at the thought of having a new model to fly, however long it might take to get it. It had been a little over two weeks since they got a new model, and considering how many drastic changes that previous model made, it was safe to say that he was excited to see what changes they’d make this time. Not to mention that it would also surely mean that he would get to spend a lot more time in the air doing flight tests.

Doctor Francis turned around and started walking through the halls, and Jacob chose to follow behind at a distance. While he sometimes thought that the two of them shared the beginnings of a friendship, Jacob still couldn’t quite figure out what the doctor was thinking most of the time. It was a bit offputting at times. However, Jacob was very aware that Doctor Francis cared more for Project Skyshard than anyone or anything in the world, which was a bit infuriating for Jacob. In the end, though, the money was all that mattered to him. He wasn’t here to make friends; he was here to fly a prototype fighter and get paid for it. However, it wouldn’t hurt to know that he could trust his employer, considering that the last time he put blind faith in his employer, he had to shoot down half of his squadron. He pushed those thoughts aside for the moment as he and Doctor Francis entered the briefing room.

“Alright, Zero, let’s hurry up and get this briefing underway,” the base commander, General Shay, said as he brought up a map of Usea on his screen. “Our fight against the Osean forces on the continent has gone very well over the last month. However, that could be about to change. While we made efforts to sink as many aircraft carriers in Osea as we could, some repair yards escaped our attacks and managed to get an aircraft carrier up and running again; the OFS Falcon. With the loss of the Kestrel II, Osea has gathered a strike force to open up a second front on the western coast.” The screen zoomed out to include the Osean continent, and a small red dot moved from Osea to western Usea. “The small fleet just arrived at the city of Alesburg and is trying to take the city to use it as a base of operations.” Alesburg lit up on the map, lying about halfway between Anchorhead Bay and Farbanti. “The city was severely underprepared for an attack, and so far, it looks like the Oseans attack may succeed.”

Jacob straightened his posture a bit. “I presume that’s where I come in?” he asked. The answer seemed obvious, but even so, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Shay nodded. “Yes. Your job is to defend the city and sink the fleet. You’ll probably have to go up against aircraft launched from the carrier as well, so be on the lookout for that,” he advised. “Now, any questions?”

Jacob stood up. “No, sir. I’ll get it done, as long as the pay is good, of course.” He cocked an eyebrow slyly with a grin to match.

General Shay and Doctor Francis shared the same annoyed expression before waving Jacob off so they could talk about other matters. As soon as he was out of the briefing room, Jacob broke out into a light jog toward the hangar. Considering how desperate General Shay made the situation out to be, Jacob decided not to waste any time. He stepped into the hangar and circled his plane for a moment, checking the mechanics' work before climbing into the cockpit and starting up the engine.

“We’re not gonna last much longer up here!” The voice of a panicked Erusean pilot said. “We need reinforcements!”

“Well, now you’ve got ‘em,” Jacob chimed in. “This is Zero. I’m entering the AO now.” He glanced down at his radar and surveyed the battlefield. The Oseans had pushed the remaining Erusean forces back to the edges of the city and were starting to pick them off. Only a handful of F-16C’s and Su-30’s remained.

“One plane? We’re about to lose the city, and they send one plane?” The pilot from earlier asked.

Jacob hit the afterburners and sped over to the city. “You’re not about to lose the city,” he replied. “Because I’m here, and I’m the only reinforcements you’ll need.” That sounded a bit more arrogant than he intended it to, but it was still true. Even if he didn’t have a highly experimental fighter, he would still probably be able to help turn the tide of the battle. After all, he had done more with slimmer odds.

Right off the bat, he started by firing two missiles at an F-35 and slipping behind an F-14 to take it out with machine guns. With the first two taken out, Jacob focused on the missiles that were quickly coming up behind him. He made a sharp turn upward and rolled onto his side to make a right turn. Upon leveling his plane out, he found himself right behind another F-35, which he took advantage of by shooting it down. Jacob’s eyes locked onto the nearest plane, an Su-33, and started moving to get behind it. They did their best to keep Jacob from having a clear shot, but it wasn’t enough. Once he reduced the Su-33 to nothing but a fireball falling to the ground, Jacob performed a kulbit and fired two missiles at the F-14 that had been tailing him.

“Holy shit, that’s five planes down in, what? A minute?” Another Erusean pilot said, baffled by Jacob’s performance. “Just what the hell kinda plane are you flying?”

“I’m afraid that’s classified,” Jacob told him while chasing down another F-14 with his guns. “The enemy is caught off-guard, though. Now’s your chance to drive them back. I’ll deal with the fleet.” He broke off after taking out his target and turned to the fleet, which wasn’t far from shore.

As Jacob pulled away from the furball and flew over the sea, he couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed that none of the Osean pilots put up as much of a fight as that pilot with the crystal emblem from Farbanti. However, the mission wasn’t over yet, so there was still a chance. He wasn’t holding out much hope, though. That pilot, whoever he was, had truly earned Jacob’s respect. Even if he likely went down shortly after their duel, he went down fighting tooth and nail for his squadron- a position Jacob had been in himself on a few occasions.

Finally, the enemy fleet appeared on Jacob’s HUD. The fleet contained two destroyers, three frigates, an aegis vessel, a battlecruiser, and of course, the aircraft carrier Falcon. A few AH-64s hovered around the fleet as well.  
“Time to earn my pay,” Jacob muttered, switching to the LASMs that he had equipped on his plane for this mission.

His first target was the aegis vessel. He unleashed a single anti-ship missile, and it glided through the air. The ship tried to intercept it, but all they hit was the water. After sustaining a critical blow, the aegis vessel began its descent to the bottom of the ocean. With one of the more high-value targets out of the way, Jacob fired a second anti-ship missile at the battlecruiser. It didn’t do enough damage to sink the ship, but Jacob remedied that with a missile and a machine-gun burst. Usually, it would be quite the task to dodge and weave his way through all the anti-air fire and missiles from the ships and helicopters, but the XFA-30 made it child’s play. Jacob put some distance between himself and the fleet and looped around to make another run. This time, he fired his LASMs at the two destroyers, and while they were finding their targets, he finished his second pass by taking out two helicopters with his standard missiles.

Jacob looked over his shoulder at the remains of the fleet behind him. “Come on, just a little bit more. The sooner I’m done with this, the sooner I can get out of here.” As far as he could tell, Jacob didn’t have much of a reason to want to leave, but he had some creeping feeling in his mind, and he didn’t like it one bit.

By that point, the fleet had started to turn around and make their way to open waters. The aircraft still in the city looked like they were trying to come back to help them, but the remaining Erusean pilots kept them busy and had even taken out most of them. Only a few helicopters remained to defend the fleet, which Jacob quickly finished off in another pass. Not wanting to waste any more time, he made a short loop around and fired an anti-ship missile into two of the destroyers and sunk the last one with his machine guns.

“Just one left,” Jacob murmured, bringing his attention to the aircraft carrier. He had a clear shot and was well outside their range, but he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. He felt his heart pounding in his chest and his hands clamming up. No matter how hard Jacob tried, he couldn’t bring himself to fire a missile. “Dammit.” He hit the carrier with a brief machine-gun burst, enough to inflict light damage, and broke off. “I’ve already killed enough people today-money be damned.”

With a new pillar of smoke following it, the aircraft carrier Falcon went further out into the open sea, and the last two Osean fighters followed it, not even acknowledging Jacob. He watched it for a moment and couldn’t help but remind himself of the Kestrel II. The crew aboard the Falcon would surely make it back to the Osean continent, but he wondered what would have happened if the Kestrel II managed to get away in the same way. Although, his thoughts were soon disturbed by the Erusean pilot from earlier.

“Holy hell, that was insane!” he exclaimed. “I guess you really were the only reinforcements we needed.”

Jacob smirked, finding the young pilot’s enthusiasm a nice distraction from his thoughts and worries. “Told ya so,” he quipped. “Well, it’s been a pleasure working with you, gents. I’m gonna be on my way now.” Jacob set his course back for the research base. “Keep your heads down.”

“Well, this seems to have been a very promising and informative sortie, Zero,” Doctor Francis observed, skimming over the flight data. “I do have one question, though.”

Jacob tilted his head, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “Name it, sir.”

“The aircraft carrier Falcon. Why didn’t you sink it?” Doctor Francis asked, turning from his computer to Jacob. “After all, that was the main target of the operation.”

Jacob flinched. He hadn’t been expecting that to be Doctor Francis’ concern, but once he said it, he felt like he should’ve. “Well, I uh… I just didn’t see a need for it, sir,” he explained.

“Except for the fact that Osea will surely try to do this again, now that they still have an operational carrier, you mean?” Doctor Francis challenged with his eyes narrowed into slits.

Jacob had seen the man angry before, but that didn’t feel as unnerving as the look he was giving him now. It was like suspicion combined with pure disdain. “Sir, Osea would be foolish to keep trying the same strategy over and over again. Besides…” Jacob paused. He wasn’t sure if he should say what was on his mind, but he decided to do so anyway. “I’ve killed enough people for one day.”

Doctor Francis stood up, keeping his eyes on Jacob. “A mercenary who can only kill so many?” He walked past, bumping Jacob’s shoulder. “Stay on your toes, Zero. That new model will be here by the end of the week.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, Merry Christmas! My gift to you is another chapter of Clouded Skies. Sorry it's been so long, I've been working on a Cyberpunk fanfic, so I've been focusing on that for the past few weeks. Anyway, enjoy the holidays and enjoy the chapter!


	22. Operation Hard Road

“Rogue Squadron heads up: enemy interceptors are inbound from the San Salvacion airport, Foxhounds. Establish air superiority and clear an LZ for Deviant Squadron,” Crosswind ordered.

“Roger that, Crosswind,” Vortex replied. “Rogue Squadron engaging. Deviant Squadron, hang back a bit. I don’t wanna risk losing you guys to the interceptors.”

“Rogue 1, Deviant 1. We read you loud and clear. We’ll wait on your mark.”

“Alright, let’s split up. Magnum, form an element with Axe, Dodger, Charger, and Diamond and take out those Foxhounds and whatever other planes that take off. The rest of us are clearing a path for Deviant Squadron.” Vortex inverted his plane and dove down to the enemy ground units below.

Eva could just barely hear Magnum grumbling and presumably biting back some retort she wanted to throw at Vortex before finally responding. “Fine, Rogue 2 engaging.”

“I can’t be the only one who thinks this is a stupid plan, right?” Slipstream asked. “Like, are we really expecting that things will go differently this time?”

Crosswind sighed. “Just focus on the mission, Slipstream,” he huffed. 

“What do you mean? I am focusing on the mission,” Slipstream defended himself. “I’m focusing on how awful of a plan this is.”

“I think what Crosswind is trying to say is to shut up and get to work,” Magic chimed in.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but for once, I agree with them,” Dodger added. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get out of here, preferably before the Arsenal Bird shows up again.”

Lucky scoffed. “Yeah, like that’ll stop you from running away again anyway,” he quipped.

Eva was about to join in, but Vortex cut everyone off. “That’s enough! All of you. Focus on your jobs,” he snapped.

Eva switched to her 6AAMs and watched as the distance to the five-person flight of MiG-31s dropped until she was finally within range. “Rogue 10, Fox 3!” she reported, firing a salvo and banking to the left to keep them from doing the same to her.

The Foxhounds all broke apart from one another to evade the missiles, but two of them weren’t quick enough. Eva twisted and turned her neck around, trying to keep an eye on all of the targets. Eventually, she saw one flying right over her head and prepared to take it out, but Axe beat her to it. She looked down at her radar to check where the next closest target was, but Charger and Magnum already shot them down.

“Crosswind, enemy interceptors are down. Do we have any more fighters incoming?” Charger asked.

“Negative. At least not yet,” Crosswind answered. “For now, go help the others with the ground targets.”

“Deviant Squadron, we’ve cut through a decent amount of the enemy’s ground units, and we’ve got a pretty decent LZ here. You’re clear to land,” Vortex informed them.

“Wilco, we’re coming in now. Keep us covered,” Deviant 1 replied with an almost lighthearted tone.

Eva saw Deviant Squadron’s blips appear on her radar and set her sights on a conveniently lined up group of SAM sites and AA guns. She took out the first two with standard missiles, and the rest didn’t stand a chance against her Su-35’s high-caliber machine guns. Despite all eleven pilots carving their way through the airport’s anti-air defenses, there were still dozens of contacts left to go.

“Rogue Squadron, enemy attack helos are coming in from deeper within the city. Take them out before they can get to Deviant Squadron,” Crosswind ordered.

“Dodger, Trench, get those helicopters.” Vortex was quick to respond to Crosswind’s warning. “Deviant Squadron, sitrep?”

“We’re landing now,” Deviant 1 answered. “But we still don’t know what building we’re going to. Crosswind, any idea?”

“Hold on, Deviant 1. I’ll try to patch Tillmin in. Wait one,” Crosswind replied.

Static flared up on the radio, and it slowly died down again as a voice started to become more and more audible. “He-o? C-oss-ind is tha- ou?” The fragments of words were barely able to be made out.

Crosswind let out an annoyed sigh. “God, this damn comm jamming is really starting to get on my nerves,” he muttered. “One second, Major, we’re having trouble reading you. Try talking now.”

“Crosswind? Is that you?” Tillmin’s voice came in much clearer.

“Yes, sir, it’s me. We’re going to get you out of here. Which building are you in?” Crosswind asked.

“Well, it certainly took you long enough,” Tillmin said with a chuckle. “I’m in the barracks on the far side of the runway, the side where you landed. I can see you out the window. You won’t have to worry about anyone else once you’re in here. I’ve already er… neutralized them,” he reported.

Eva looked from where Deviant Squadron had landed and shifted her attention up the runway as she circled around it, quickly spotting the building. “I think I see it,” she reported. “It looks like a clear shot.”

"The keyword there is _looks_ ,” Charger cut in. “It’s always the most straightforward objectives that are the hardest.”

“Boy, are they ever,” Lucky quipped. “How many ‘walk in the park’ missions have we had that turned into a complete shitshow?”

“Too many,” Magic answered. “All the more reason to do this one right.”

Eva fired two missiles at a tank and buzzed the airport’s control tower before pitching straight up and around into a loop. As she aimed straight for the ground, she destroyed a pair of APCs with her machine guns and fired two more missiles at an AA gun and SAM site right before pulling up. She put some distance between herself and the air defenses and checked her radar. Trench and Dodger had destroyed the helicopters and were already on their way back, but several dozen more contacts just appeared from the west, and they were headed right for the airport.

“Crosswind, we’ve got bogeys from the west!” she informed him.

“Roger, I see them. They’re MQ-101s,” Crosswind reported.

Tillmin cursed under his breath. “They responded faster than I thought. The Arsenal Bird will be here soon. We’ve got to hurry. What’s the status of the extraction team?” he asked.

“Goddammit!” Deviant 1 shouted, as if on cue. Gunfire was audible in the background. “Crosswind, they’ve got us pinned with a mortar!” he reported. “I sent James and Adams to flank around to take it out, but they’re non-responsive. They must have a drone somewhere doing laser guidance, a mini-quadcopter of some kind, most likely.”

“Copy that, hold on Deviant 1. I’ll send it to Rogue Squadron via the data link,” Crosswind told Deviant 1. “You hear that Rogue Squadron, I’m sending the target coordinates to you. Take it out,” he ordered.

Eva happened to see the drone appear directly in front of her, giving her the perfect opportunity to take it out with a shot from her machine gun. “Got it!” she reported.

“Wait, there’s movement in the hangars,” Deviant 1 said. “It looks like some more planes are taxying onto the runway.”

“Hold your fire!” Tillmin cut in. “What kind of planes are they?” he asked.

“Su-33s,” Crosswind answered. “Why should we care, though?”

"They’re with me, Castor Squadron. I managed to talk them over to my side, and I trust them with my life. Hold on, and I’ll patch them in,” Tillmin replied.

Magnum scoffed. “Yeah, cause we’re just supposed to take the word of a defector at face value,” she retorted.

“It’s not up to you, Rogue 2,” Crosswind snapped. “Commander Gates trusts him, and that’s all that matters. Patch them in, Major.”

Eva fired a salvo of 6AAMs at the approaching MQ-101s and popped countermeasures to shake the missiles they had fired at her. She couldn’t see exactly how many of her missiles found their marks, but her HUD informed that she got at least one hit. More than anything, though, Eva wished she could shot off the missile alert that was incessantly barking her ears. She looked over her shoulder at the drones behind her and took a deep breath before dropping her speed. As soon as she was able to, she performed a cobra maneuver. However, she made a critical mistake in that she didn’t accelerate quickly enough, so she started stalling. After regaining control of the plane, she pulled up and slipped behind the drones again, firing a missile at each of them

“Hello? Can you guys hear me? This is Castor 1, callsign Neutron,” a new voice asked.

“We read you loud and clear, Neutron,” Crosswind answered. “This is the AWACS Crosswind of the Air Force Base 262 Squadron. We heard that you’re looking to lend a hand.”

“That’s right,” Neutron replied. “The four of us are taking off as we speak. Major Tillmin already filled us in on the plan. We’ll get him out of here.”

Crosswind managed a slight chuckle. “Good to hear, ‘cause we’ll need all the help we can get dealing with these drones. Take off and link up with Rogue Squadron to- ah dammit.”

“Right, because _that’s_ what we want to hear the AWACS saying,” Slipstream muttered.

“Heads up, projectiles inbound! It looks like the same ones as before,” Crosswind warned.

“Oh shit, all aircraft scatter, now!” Tillmin ordered. “That’s an airburst missile, codenamed Helios. It’ll knock you out of the sky if you’re not careful.”

Eva saw the missiles' impact range show up on her radar as red circles and made sure to get as far away from them as she could while taking out a few drones along the way. She let out a silent sigh of relief upon seeing that everyone else made it out of the Helios missiles’ blast radius as well, including Castor Squadron.

“Impact in ten seconds… five, four, three, two… impact, now!”

Right on cue, several large blue explosions lit up the sky and shook Eva’s plane. Surprisingly, though, quite a few drones were hit by the missiles, leaving only a few left.

“Is everyone ok?” Vortex asked. “Deviant Squadron, what’s your status? We can’t wait around forever!”

“We’re with Major Tillmin and escorting him out now. Just hang in there,” Deviant 1 answered.

Eva went for another pass over the base’s ground defenses, taking out a tank and a few APCs. “Let’s just hope it’s just as easy to get out of here as it was to get here,” she said. “Quite frankly, I’ve had enough of this for one day.”

“I’m with you there,” Vortex agreed. “So let’s get Deviant Squadron out of here and end this mission already.”

Tillmin and Deviant Squadron made a mad dash for the helicopters and took off as soon as everyone was aboard. Rogue Squadron and Castor Squadron stayed behind for another minute to take out the rest of the drones and a few more SAM sites before pulling out to follow Deviant Squadron.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe that worked!” Lucky exclaimed.

“That was… intense, to say the least,” Poet agreed, breathing heavily. “By god, once we get back, I’m getting something to eat and then sleeping until the end of time.”

“I wouldn’t relax just yet, you guys,” Crosswind cut in. “We’ve got multiple bandits coming up behind you, and coming up fast- aircraft type: F-22s. Prepare to engage,” he warned.

“Oh shit, that’s Draugr Squadron,” Neutron realized. “They’re an elite squadron of Erusean aces. Trust me when I say you do _not_ want to engage them.”

“Well, we don’t really have much choice, do we?” Vortex asked. “Castor Squadron, you stay with Deviant Squadron and keep them heading back to the base. Rogue Squadron will keep them off your backs.”

Dodger laughed. “Speak for yourself. I think Castor Squadron could use a bit of help finding the way back to base.”

“There he goes, running away again,” Slipstream sneered.

Eva turned around with the rest of the squadron and faced down all eight of the approaching F-22s. It was a beautiful plane, and she felt the smallest shred of guilt for having to shoot so many of them down, but that wasn’t enough to stop her. Eva switched to her 6AAMs and hit the afterburners. She fired as soon as she had all six targets, but they split off into a beautifully synchronized sunburst formation, causing each of her missiles to miss. Eva immediately pitched up into the sky and followed after the lead plane. Following him was no minor feat, though. He was swift and maneuverable, and Eva couldn’t manage to get a clear shot on him. In fact, she could barely keep up as he led her over the city streets of San Salvacion, while the rest of the squadron seemed to be facing similar difficulties. As the Draugr pilot started to make a left turn, Eva tried to predict his next move and adjust accordingly. She dove down and to the left, and just as she expected, he turned down after turning left, leaving him wide open. Eva unleashed a hail of machine-gun fire and missiles, sending him spiraling downward. However, just before the F-22 crashed into the ground, she saw the ejection seat shoot up, and the parachute deployed a few seconds later.

After pulling back up into the air, Eva looked around at the remaining planes to see where everyone was. Her eyes wandered before settling on Slipstream, who seemed to be struggling to get one of the Draugr pilots off his tail. Without hesitating for a moment, she headed straight for the two planes and came up right behind the F-22. She fired two standard missiles, but the F-22 dodged at the last second to shake them off. Eva briefly hit the afterburners and shot forward, closing the distance between herself and the F-22. She fired a machine-gun burst and landed a few shots before the F-22 broke off trailing smoke. With some parts presumably damaged, the Draugr pilot was much less maneuverable, and as a result, they were much easier to chase down and finish off with another missile.

“How are we holding up?” Eva asked, looking at her radar again to see who needed help, only to see a clean radar.

“We did it,” Vortex said, panting. “We did do it, right Crosswind?”

“Holy shit, you guys, that was insane!” Crosswind exclaimed. “You just took down a squadron of eight Erusean aces like it was nothing.”

“Let’s just… get back to base, yeah?” Charger chimed in. “We can go over everything during the debriefing.”

“Yeah, I’m dead tired,” Eva admitted, feeling a bit of lightheadedness herself. Granted, not as much as when she had fought Zero, not by a longshot.

“Alright, alright. Deviant Squadron and Castor Squadron are well out of the AO by now, so you’re cleared to RTB. Get out of there and head back to base, Rogue Squadron.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, sorry to say, but I'm gonna be abandoning Spare Squadron because it's just so low on my priority list compared to other fics I wanna write. You'll see a new one soon though, a Project Wingman fic.


	23. Turning the Tide

“Rogue 10, this is the Control Tower. The runway is free. You have permission to land.”

Eva lowered her landing gear and started reducing her speed. “Roger that, Tower. I’m beginning my approach.” She lined up the runway with the center of her vision and started dropping her altitude. As she got closer and closer to the runway, she felt an immense wave of relief wash over her. The mission to rescue Major Tillmin had admittedly taken quite a bit out of her, specifically the fight with Draugr Squadron.

“Bank left,” control instructed her.

Eva followed the instructions given to her and adjusted slightly before her wheels touched down onto the ground. Slowly but surely, her Su-35 slowed down until it came to a complete stop. Eva took a deep breath in and out before removing her oxygen mask.

“A little shaking on the landing,” control noted. “But at least your down. Taxi into the hangar and stand by for your next sortie.”

After making her way into the hangar, Diamond switched off the engines and climbed out of her plane. Her eyes wandered over to Castor Squadron’s Su-33s as she jumped down to the ground off the last few rungs of the ladder. They had a gray camo and purple wingtips. It looked similar to her own livery.

“I’ll be honest, when Draugr Squadron showed up, I was worried we wouldn’t make it out of there, but you guys really gave ‘em hell.” Eva recognized the voice of Neutron and turned to face him. He had short black hair and green eyes, and he had a friendly expression. It reminded Eva a bit of Domino.

“Well, it definitely wasn’t easy. Your old pals put up quite a fight,” Eva responded, smiling as she took off her helmet.

Neutron waved his hand dismissively. “Eh, even before we decided to help the Major, we were never really friends with them. Nobody was, quite frankly. It always just felt like they thought they were better than you.” He shrugged. “Either way, I figured if anyone could take them down, it’d be the Blue Kestrel. It seems I was right,” he added with a smile.

Eva tilted her head to the side, raising an eyebrow inquisitively. “The Blue Kestrel?” she echoed.

“There have been rumors spreading around the Erusean Military about an Osean pilot with blue wingtips and a kestrel on their tail,” Neutron explained. “Folks have started to call them, well, you, I guess, the Blue Kestrel.” He nodded to her Su-35 and the kestrel on the vertical stabilizers. “Some people even claim to have seen the Blue Kestrel in action- said they moved like no plane they had ever seen before. Of course, some people doubted that you even existed, although, after today, I doubt they’ll be saying that anymore.”

Eva glanced at her plane for a moment. “That’s weird to think about,” she admitted. She remembered listening to stories from her mother about the Razgriz, but to hear herself talked about similarly just felt strange.

“You think that’s weird to think about? You haven’t even heard the strangest explanations of where you came from,” Neutron said, smirking.

“Really?” Eva asked. “Like what?” In her mind, she wasn’t sure if anything could top that, but at the same time, she wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

“Some say that the Blue Kestrel is a spirit, one that’s hellbent on vengeance for the Kestrel II. It’ll fight tooth and nail, so long as it accomplishes that one goal,” Neutron explained.

Eva didn’t respond right away. She couldn’t help but think that it was reasonably accurate. After all the people on the Kestrel II she had lost, Eva would be lying if she said she didn’t want to get some payback for them. “Not exactly wrong,” she finally said. “The only real difference between that and the truth is I’m not a spirit.” She looked down at her hands. “At least, last time I checked, I’m not,” she added with a smirk.

Neutron shrugged. “Either way, after seeing you in action, I think you’ve earned the title. Plus, it kind of suits you, to be honest.”

“I can agree with you there,” Vortex chimed in as he walked up to join the two of them, patting Eva on the shoulder. “You’ve come a long way since all this started, and if my word isn’t enough to convince you, then the way the Eruseans react to seeing you should be.”

Eva smiled, nudging Vortex. “Well, I can’t take all the credit. Not when I have such an awesome squadron with me.”

“Fair enough,” Vortex admitted with a chuckle. “Now, let’s go. Gates is waiting for us to debrief.”

“Aaron, it’s good to see you again after so long,” Gates said, extending a hand to Major Tillmin.

Tillmin smiled and shook his hand. “Good to see you too, Clinton. I just wish that we could’ve been meeting under better circumstances.”

Gates nodded and brought Tillmin up to the front of the room. “Yeah, I’m with you there, but the important part is that you’re here now. Not to mention you’ve brought more pilots with you.” He nodded to Castor Squadron. “We haven’t been introduced yet. I’m Commander Gates. I run this base. You’re Castor Squadron, then?”

Neutron stood up. “Yes, sir. I’m Castor 1, Neutron.” He gestured to his squadmates sitting next to him. “This is Castor 2, Bouncer, Castor 3, Threes, and Castor 4, Mesa.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Gates replied. “It’s good to see that not all of Erusea is insistent on fighting this pointless war.” He glanced back over to Tillmin. “Now, the last time you and I spoke to each other, you said you had intelligence that we would be able to put to good use. Is that still true?”

Tillmin smirked and pulled a USB drive from his pocket. “All the intel I couldn’t remember in my head, I stored here.” He set it down on the desk where the computer running the briefings sat.

“The location of that comm-jamming facility wouldn’t happen to be on that drive, would it?” Crosswind chimed in. “We’d be better equipped to put all this to good use if we were able to link up with Osean forces.”

Tillmin shook his head. “Sadly, no. Its location is highly confidential. Not even I know where it is.”

Magnum jumped to her feet. “You’re telling me all of that effort we put in was pointless?” she demanded. “We’re still stranded out here?”

“I’m afraid so,” Tillmin admitted. “But that’s not to say you’re efforts were wasted,” he quickly added. “Most of my work involved the Arsenal Birds, so a lot of my intel involves ways to deal significant blows against them. Allow me to explain.” He took the USB drive and plugged it into the computer as he booted up the briefing software. “As I’m sure you’re aware, two Arsenal Birds are protecting the Space Elevator. One is named Liberty, and the other is called Justice.” Tillmin pulled up images of two Arsenal Birds onto the screen. “Justice is the more advanced of the two. It has stronger propellors, a higher drone carrying capacity, pulse lasers, a high-powered laser cannon, Helios projectiles, and notably, a more advanced Active Protection System unit, or APS unit. This is what powers the Arsenal Bird and allows it to deploy its shield. The more advanced model enables the Arsenal Bird to use power more effectively and deploy its shield faster.”

Eva nodded along slowly as Tillmin went through all of his information. Her mind slowly back to Farbanti and her other encounter with the Arsenal Bird. _‘Since the Arsenal Bird had a laser each time we saw it, it must’ve been Justice both times,’_ she thought. _‘Meaning I’ve got a bone to pick with that thing.’_

“Now, as I said earlier,” Tillmin carried on. “Justice is the more advanced of the two Arsenal Birds, and Liberty served as a prototype of sorts. However, that may not be the case for long. Erusea’s planning to upgrade Liberty to have the same capabilities as Justice, starting with a new APS unit that’s being delivered by cargo plane in a few days. They’re delivering it from San Salvacion to Gunther Bay, where Liberty will dock to swap out the APS units. ” He looked up from the screen and at the pilots. “However, this won’t be a simple mission. In addition to the large escort, the transport carrying the APS unit will likely have several decoys surrounding it.”

“We can worry about all that later,” Gates chimed in. “Major Tillmin, Crosswind, and I will go over the specifics of his intel together and try to come up with a plan going forward. Based on what he’s making it sound like, it seems we won’t have a shortage of targets to go after. For now, though, you’re all dismissed. Go eat, get some rest, whatever you feel is necessary, you’ve all earned it. If something urgent comes up, we’ll notify you.” He smiled, waving the pilots off. “Go on now.”

The pilots all stood up and left the room before splitting off in various directions to move throughout the base.

* * *

Lucas took a deep breath as he finally spotted Magnum in the mess hall with Axe and Dodger. “Well,” he muttered to himself. “You’re gonna have to do this sooner or later. Might as well just rip off the bandage and do it now.” It didn’t take long for them to spot him, and when they did, they all glared at him.

“The hell do you want?” Magnum demanded as Lucas sat down next to them. “You here to chew us out for something you could’ve done better?”

Lucas tried his best not to look annoyed by her hostility and put on a friendly smile. “Easy, Magnum. I’m not here to pick a fight. Quite the opposite, actually.”

A crooked smirk appeared on Magnum’s face. “Sheesh, coming on strong, are we? Try buying me dinner first.”

“What? No, not like that! Jesus, will you just listen to me?” Lucas asked, letting his annoyance show. “I want to put an end to this bickering. I’ve seen what happens when we all work together as a group, and we can get a lot done like that. More often than not, though, we’re always at each other’s throats for some reason or another, so I’m here to extend an olive branch.” He extended his hand out in front of Magnum. “Can we put everything behind us and work together as a squadron?”

Magnum’s extended silence made Lucas nervous. Her glare flicked down to his hand and then back up at him. “You know, reconciliation is a two-way street,” she finally said. “It’s not as if you and your squadmates haven’t been the aggressors.”

Lucas nodded understandingly. “Yes. I’m well aware,” he replied, keeping his hand out for Magnum to shake. “I’m not saying it’s gonna be easy, but us working together is the best option.”

Dodger scoffed. “Why should we give a rat’s ass?” he asked. “After this war is over, you’ll probably get some medal while we get tossed into another prison, so why should we bother?”

Lucas paused and thought back to Gates’ words from earlier. _‘_ _I bet if he had a reason to fight instead of being forced, that might motivate him.’_ Lucas looked over at Dodger. “You know, Commander Gates is a pretty understanding guy. I’m sure if you guys really gave it your all and fought with everything you’ve got, he might try to get you guys pardoned for your efforts.” Lucas wasn’t a fan of making promises that he couldn’t guarantee he could keep, but from what he knew of Gates, if these pilots changed like the commander thought they would, he would likely be eager to give them a pardon. “So what do you say?”

Magnum leaned in close. “Let me make one thing clear, flyboy. I don’t like you or your squadron. Had it not been for Crosswind, I probably would’ve shot you down when we first met. You threw off the order of things, and I can’t stand that. These two-“ She gestured to Axe and Dodger. ”Slipstream, and to a lesser degree, Trench, are _my_ squadron. If anything happens to them because of you or your squadron, there’ll be hell to pay.” She pulled a shiv out of one of the pockets in her flight suit. “That’s no hollow threat, either. I won’t hesitate,” she murmured before putting it away again. “If anything happens to them because of you, you’re dead. Got it?”

Lucas nodded. “Got it,” he answered. “It’s a deal then? Everything up to this point is water under the bridge?” He offered her his hand again.

Magnum glared at him before shaking his hand. “Don’t make me regret this.”

* * *

When Eva first arrived at Air Force Base 262, she couldn’t stand looking out at the Sandbury Desert. Compared to the Spring Sea or the Eusian Ocean's glistening waters on the Kestrel II and at Fort Grays, it just looked bland. As time went on, though, she managed to find beauty in the dunes that just looked soft and peaceful, like waves rolling over each other as they got pushed around by the wind. She never thought she would end up enjoying the view as she sat outside in the twilight hours of the day.

“You’re a hard woman to find sometimes. You know that?” She jumped a bit at Lucky’s voice behind her.

Eva waved her hand dismissively. “Ah, you know me.” She smiled as he sat down next to her.

The smile on Lucky’s face lessened as he looked up at her. “Listen, are you… feeling alright?” he asked.

Eva shot him a puzzled look. “What do you mean? Is there a reason I wouldn’t be?”

“No, no. It’s just that, well, you’ve been strangely quiet since we came back from the mission today. I just wanted to make sure that nothing’s wrong, y’know?” Lucky shifted awkwardly as he tried to explain himself.

Eva giggled before looking back out at the desert as a warm breeze came in, rustling her hair. “Lucky… I’ve been just alright for weeks, but for the first time in a while, I’m so much better than alright. I mean, look at the mission today. We got four more pilots, and we rescued the Major, and because of his intel, we have an actual plan. Sure, we’re still cut off with no foreseeable way of contacting allies, but for the first time since the Kestrel II sank, we’re not just fighting to survive. We’re turning the tide and fighting back against the Eruseans.” She thought back to what Neutron said about getting revenge for everyone on the Kestrel II. “Maybe now, I can finally make them pay for what they did to Domino, Torch, Waller, and everyone else.” Although she still had yet to find Zero again, she wasn’t going to give up until she did.

Lucky smiled. “I get what you mean. It feels nice not to have to worry about watching my back all the time, or not as much, at least.” He laughed a bit at his joke. “More importantly, though, I’m glad you’re happy.” He put his arm around her shoulder. “We’ve had to put up with a lot of shit, so I’m glad you were able to come out of it and stay positive.”

“Well, I owe that to you and the others,” she said, nudging his shoulder. “I don’t think I would’ve been able to carry on after Farbanti if not for you guys, but because of you, I’ve found a reason to keep fighting.” Eva looked out at the desert as the sun started to slip behind the horizon, and she felt a feeling of tranquility. She didn’t have to put up with any air raids or missions; it was just her, Lucky, and the desert. It felt nice, like one of those moments she wished would last forever. “We’ve come a long way to get here, haven’t we?” Eva asked, looking up at Lucky.

Lucky nodded. “Yep,” he replied. “And just think, it all started on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean.”

“Well, if we wanna get technical, it started at Fort Grays,” she corrected him, smiling. “It’s been a long, bumpy road, but I think that maybe- just maybe, we’re gonna be alright.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And on that note, Act 2 comes to a close, finally bringing Clouded Skies to the halfway point. I have something a bit unique planned for the next posting, so stay tuned for that. Until then, I hope you've enjoyed this act, and thank you so so much for staying with me for so long. It really means more than I can put into words, so thank you.


	24. Intermission- A Retrospective

When I first got the idea, which eventually manifested and became Clouded Skies, I hesitated to start writing it. This was due to various reasons, but I think the largest source of doubt for me was my history with writing fanfics in the past. Writing fanfiction was how I got my start as a writer, and I wouldn’t have gotten to the point where I am now if it weren’t for fanfiction. However, I was relatively young when I first started writing, and they were all pretty awful. Not to mention the fact that none of them ever got finished, which is something I’ll talk about in a minute. Needless to say, I had a lot of reasons not to write Clouded Skies and let it remain a neat idea in my head. There was also plenty of reason for me to write it as well. It’s been a long time since I was a fanfic writer, and I’ve grown a lot since then, both as a person and a writer. This growth and the potential for more inspired me to take the leap of faith and write this story. However, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it now: Clouded Skies and my writing as it is today wouldn’t have existed if not for MontyMarten and their fanfic Three Strikes, my inspiration. I don’t know if you’re reading this, but know that I owe all of this to you. I plan on pursuing writing as a career, and if you hadn’t inspired me to jumpstart my writing with this story, I don’t know where I’d be, so thank you.

As far as Clouded Skies itself, it’s come a long way since its conception, and it’s without a doubt the best thing I’ve ever written, and I’m not even done with it yet. It’s also the longest piece I’ve written. The first draft of the novel I was writing before Clouded Skies is currently about three quarters done and sitting at around 20k words. Clouded Skies is just reaching the halfway point, and it’s just shy of 60k words. Initially, the story in its simplest form was “What if I write a story about the pilots of the planes on the Kestrel II?” It’s kind of hard to believe how far it’s come since then. When I sat down to write, my vision for the story didn’t extend past the first act, but around halfway through is when I had the most basic idea of the full story. Even then, though, it continued to change and evolve over time, and it still is to this day. One of the questions I’m often curious about when looking at other peoples’ stories is what they would change. As for me, I think what I would change about Clouded Skies from the first two acts is two things. One is a specific change that’s part of a more general second change. I would change Nexus and Meteor’s squadron names to fit Fort Grays’ naming scheme of more fantasy elements better. I’d do this as part of an overall change to better reflect the whole story in my earlier writing. Details like the people aboard the Kestrel II initially being stationed at Fort Grays and Diamond being friends with Trigger via flight school didn’t come up until later in the story. Still, now that they exist, I just wish I could change the writing to reflect that better.

Now, earlier I said one of the reasons I was hesitant to start writing Clouded Skies was because none of them got finished. If I had to narrow it down to one reason why they never got finished, it would be because I would think about some other idea I wanted to write, start working on that and forget about the original idea. The only reason I waited to bring this up was that I thought it would be a good Segway into what I wanted to talk about next. Recently, I’ve been thinking a whole lot about another story idea I’ve wanted to write. It’s an AU where instead of Diamond being assigned to Nexus Squadron and Trigger getting assigned to Mage Squadron, they’re both put in Mage Squadron, the story follows them through the campaign. I have many good ideas for this fic, but I’m hesitant to write it for several reasons like any other idea I get. What’s holding me back from writing this fic are concerns balancing this with all my other fics, losing interest partway through (like Spare Squadron), and having the fic come off as just cringy. Since I have all this indecisiveness, I decided I’d take it to you guys. Is this something you’d want to read? If so, leave a review or something to let me know. If I get enough support for it, I’ll give it a go.

On a somewhat related note, I’m gonna take this time to plug my Twitter and Twitch. (Twitter is @Ashley_Klos, and Twitch is AshedAshley) My Twitter is where I share aircraft skins I make for Ace Combat, most of the time for Clouded Skies, and talk about various other things. If you ever want to chat with me, that’s the place to do it- that, or my Twitch, which I use from time to time to stream games and chill with whoever stops by.

With that being said, though, I think that’s enough rambling from me. I hope you enjoyed this little blurb from me. Once again, thank you to everyone who reads this, especially those who leave reviews/comments. I can’t adequately put into words how much getting them means to me. One comment can keep me inspired for, like, three days. Although that might be because I’m starved for compliments and latch onto each one I get, but I digress. Thank you again for reading this.


	25. Operation Brewing Storm

“Is everyone here?” Gates asked, looking around the briefing room, then nodding after seeing each pilot’s face. “Good, let’s begin, then. Major Tillmin.” He nodded to the Erusean officer and stepped to the side to give him the floor.  
Tillmin cleared his throat and booted up the briefing software. “By now, you’ve all seen the Arsenal Birds in action, and it’s not hyperbole to say that those things are by far the biggest threat to winning this war.” A picture of an Arsenal Bird appeared on the screen. “If we want to have even the smallest chance of victory, we need to do whatever we can to cripple those Arsenal Birds. Luckily, Commander Gates, Crosswind, and I have come up with a way to do that.” He closed the picture of the Arsenal Bird and brought up a map of Usea. “As I said last week when you rescued me, there are two Arsenal Birds, and one is more advanced than the other. However, Erusea is trying to bring the first one up to spec with the second one. They’re starting this process by giving it a new APS unit, which is going to be on its way to the Space Elevator in a matter of hours.” Tillmin stepped back and nodded to Gates, allowing him to speak.  
“Rogue Squadron, Castor Squadron. Your mission is to intercept this aerial convoy and destroy the APS unit before it reaches the Arsenal Birds’ air defense network, which is reduced because Liberty is grounded to receive the APS unit.” Gates shrunk the red circle surrounding the Space Elevator to half its previous diameter. “The convoy is leaving San Salvacion in a few hours, as Tillmin said, and will be heading south to Gunther Bay. Make no mistake, though. This will not be an easy mission. Due to the importance of this piece of technology reaching the Liberty, Erusea is not only sending decoy transports but a large fighter escort as well.”  
“So what you’re saying is to expect this to turn into a massive furball?” Vortex asked.  
Gates nodded. “Exactly. Paired with the fact that Erusea’s auto-intercept system will send more drones to the battle, along with more fighters, this will be a difficult mission.” He replaced the serious look on his face with a warm smile. “But I have in every one of you. With so many skilled pilots flying together, there’s no way you won’t succeed.”  
Slipstream scoffed. “Right. Whatever,” he muttered under his breath.  
Gates ignored him, despite Crosswind shooting the pilot a deadly glare. “Now, if there aren’t any questions, then get to your planes and prepare for your mission.”

As everyone did whatever they needed to be ready to take off, Eva circled her plane. Her eyes drifted up and down as she paced, looking over every detail that she could find.  
“You nervous?” Magic asked from the seat of her F-2.  
Eva leaned up against her plane. “What makes you think that?” she asked dismissively.  
Magic shrugged. “You just seem more jittery than usual,” she observed.  
Eva climbed up into her cockpit and put on her helmet. “I guess I’m just nervous something’s gonna go wrong, and we’ll end up right back where we started,” she admitted as she ran through her pre-flight checks.  
“I wouldn’t be,” Magic told her. “We’ve got like, what, 15 planes going into this? If we manage to mess this up, we’d have to be pretty stupid,” she said with a smirk.  
“You mean like over Farbanti with the Kestrel II?” Eva countered, raising an eyebrow in Magic’s direction.  
Magic paused for a moment, thinking of a reply. Finally, she spoke. “That was different. We didn’t expect some experimental super-fighter to wipe out half a squadron in under a minute.”  
“Shouldn’t we be expecting that to happen now, then?” Eva asked before letting out a heavy sigh. “I dunno. I guess I’m saying that I’m worried Zero or someone else’ll show up to ruin things.”  
“Zero?” Magic echoed.  
“The fighter at Farbanti had an emblem on the tail that was a bunch of zeroes,” Eva explained. “So I’ve been calling them Zero.”  
“Well, the way I see it is this. Zero showed up to keep us from taking the capital, which is pretty essential. Right now, though? We’re out in the middle of the desert, not even in contact with friendly forces- quite a difference between the two.”  
“Rogue Squadron, take-off prep complete. Proceed to the runway and get ready to go,” control said over the intercom.  
Eva shrugged, switching on her engines. “I guess you’re right,” she admitted. “Now, let’s go deal with this and come home.” She smirked as the doors to the hangar opened, allowing sunlight to pour in.

One of the things Eva still hadn’t gotten used to was how much different the atmosphere was on the way to a mission compared to the Kestrel II. More often than not, Nexus and Meteor Squadron would fly to their objectives in almost complete silence. It was a bit unnerving initially, but Eva quickly learned to use the time to clear her head before the action started. With Rogue Squadron, though, the talking never ended. The convicts would always be chattering about something. Of course, Eva still tried to use this time to clear her head, but she was a lot less successful. She tried her best to tune them out, which worked for the most part. Although, blocking them out entirely seemed to be an impossible task.  
“What the hell is that!?” Dodger yowled, causing Eva to jump in her seat.  
Eva looked up frantically, expecting to maneuver at a moment’s notice, but froze as soon as she saw what was ahead. At least two dozen contacts appeared on her HUD, a fair distance away. “Holy shit,” she muttered.  
“Well, there it is,” Vortex said. “Crosswind, this is Rogue 1. We have eyes on the convoy. Are we weapons-free?”  
“Confirmed,” Crosswind answered. “Rogue Squadron, Castor Squadron, engage,” he ordered. “I’m getting distress signals coming from the convoy. It looks like they’re sending out a request for reinforcements, so expect more company shortly.”  
“Ah, don’t you worry, Crosswind,” Neutron said nonchalantly. “We’ll be back before lunch.”  
“Alright, everyone, start engaging the escorts. We won’t be able to do this with them in the way,” Vortex reminded everyone. “Just remember to watch each other’s backs.”  
“And try not to tail anyone else’s target,” Magnum added. “There’s gonna be no shortage of targets to go around.”  
As Eva and the rest of the flight got closer, it truly dawned on her just how many escorts there were. It was easy to bunch them up into fewer targets from farther away, but now that she was nearly in firing range, she counted at least thirty. Eva switched to her 6AAMs and watched as the distance to her target got smaller. Even as she got a lock, she waited until all six missiles were ready to fire before pulling the trigger and watching the split off toward their targets.  
One by one, they all found their marks, except for one flying straight at an Su-37, which pitched straight up at the last second. The plane spun upside-down before diving back down and heading straight for Eva. They fired two missiles as soon as they were able to and banked right. Eva deployed flares and dove down before turning left to follow them. She got another lock, but before she could fire any missiles, the Su-37 pitched up into a cobra, causing Eva to fly right by.  
“Jeez, whoever this guy is, he sure is stubborn,” she grunted, going straight up to avoid their machine guns. “I can’t get him to sit still.”  
“Wait, I recognize that emblem on the tail,” Threes realized. “It’s Draugr 1!”  
“He must’ve bailed out over San Salvacion,” Bouncer speculated.  
Eva couldn’t help but smirk as her admiration of the pilot increased. “Either way, this guy’s got some serious skill. It looks to me like he’s asking for a rematch. I’d better not disappoint.” She switched on the afterburners and started putting as much distance between herself and Draugr 1 as she could.  
As soon as Draugr 1 realized what she was doing, he started to go after her as fast as possible. Eva quickly glanced over her shoulder, trying to spot him and see how close he was. Finally, she made the tightest loop that she could manage and turned to face Draugr 1 as the two pilots aimed themselves right at each other. Eva watched the radar lock warning on her HUD intently, waiting for it to inform her of an incoming missile. Finally, Draugr 1 let a pair of standard missiles fly, and Eva took her chance. She deployed flares and maneuvered slightly, but she still went right for the other pilot. She stayed the course until she got within machine-gun range, allowing her to fire a quick burst and score a few hits before pulling away before they collided. Both of them looped around in opposite directions to face each other, but by the time they leveled themselves out, they had already passed each other.  
“All aircraft, caution!” Crosswind warned. “MQ-99s inbound from bearing 350, prepare to engage.”  
“Roger that, Crosswind. Charger, Poet, wanna give me a hand with these drones?” Vortex asked.  
“Right behind you, Vortex,” Charger answered.  
“Ditto! Let’s go get ‘em,” Poet added.

After only narrowly avoiding a machine-gun burst from Draugr 1, Eva flew past him and pitched straight up into the sky. As soon as she heard a missile warning, she rolled onto her side and banked left. She tried to make a full loop to get behind him, but Draugr 1 had already turned too far for her to get a clear shot. He sped up and pitched down, dropping his altitude before looping around and coming up right underneath Eva. As he went in with his guns, Eva dropped into a cobra and came to nearly a complete stop. She and Draugr 1 came within a few meters of each other, but ultimately, Draugr 1 flew right past her as he continued straight up into the sky, giving Eva a clear shot on him. She fired two standard missiles before her plane stalled, and she started falling to the desert below. Eva throttled up as fast as she could and pulled up just before hitting the ground.  
“Nice, Diamond!” Lucky cheered. “And here I was about to ask if you needed help.”  
Eva smirked. “Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing,” she quipped as she climbed back into the sky to rejoin the fight.  
Lucky laughed a bit. “As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t mind a hand with these fighters. I may have bitten off a bit more than I can chew,” he admitted.  
“What? You? No, that can’t be right. You’d never do something like that.” Eva’s voice oozed sarcasm as she spotted Lucky dancing through the sky with a pair of Su-35s and an F-14. She fired a 6AAM salvo at the three hostiles, but only the one aimed at the F-14 connected.  
"Hey! The transports are getting away,” Magic called out.  
“The escorts are trying to buy time for them to escape,” Neutron replied. “That’s why we’ve gotta finish this up quickly.”  
“Well, it’s a good thing that the enemy’s numbers are starting to thin out, then,” Crosswind chimed in. “If we don’t speed this up, you guys won’t have enough fuel to go after them.”  
Eva shot down one of the Su-35’s trailing behind Lucky with her machine guns as she flew past them before she quickly looped around and took out the last one with standard missiles.  
Lucky let out a sigh of relief. “Whew. Thanks, Diamond. I owe ya one.”  
“Oh, I’m sure you owe me way more than one, but I suppose I can let it slide. That’s what friends are for, after all,” Eva responded with a smirk.  
Poet snickered a little. “Uh-huh, ‘friends.’ Riiight,” he said in a teasing voice.  
“You implying something, Poet?” Eva asked, ignoring the heat moving up to her cheeks.  
“No, nothing at all,” Poet replied coyly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  
“Let’s cut the chatter, guys,” Vortex chimed in. “We’re not out of this yet, so keep yourselves focused.”

After quickly looking over the battlefield on her radar, Eva decided to help with the drones since they seemed to be causing the most problems. She fired a salvo of 6AAMs, but only two of them hit their targets due to the drones' agility. She followed after one of the drones that pitched up and fired a single at it, which it didn’t have time to evade. She was about to look for her next target, but the missile alert in the cockpit started blaring. Eva went right with a high-G turn and craned her neck to find the drone on her tail. After she finally spotted it, she rolled upside-down and dropped down, only to pull up moments later. The drone took a bit too long to correct and ended up in front of Eva, allowing her to take it out with machine-guns.  
“One escort left,” Crosswind informed the group. “Slipstream, he’s near you.”  
“Yeah, I’m on him,” Slipstream replied. “After this, we can finally go home and thank god, honestly. It feels like we’ve been here forever.”  
“We still have to deal with the transports,” Vortex reminded him. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”  
“How do we know which of the transports is the right one?” Magic asked. “Didn’t Tillmin say there are decoys?”  
“According to Major Tillmin, the transport carrying the APS unit will have a large explosion when you destroy it,” Crosswind explained. “It’ll look similar to the explosions that the Helios projectiles produce.”  
“Scratch the last escort,” Slipstream reported. “Let’s finish this.”  
"Roger that,” Crosswind responded. “Proceed to the transports and- ah damn, looks like we’ve got one more fighter- aircraft type unknown coming in at bearing 150. Holy shit, this thing is fast!”  
“It’s him…” Lucky murmured.  
Eva froze and looked down at her radar. As she watched the single radar blip get closer and closer to her and everyone else, she felt fear more than anything. Her mind went back to Farbanti as she watched Meteor Squadron get shot down one by one and the missile that nearly killed her. Eva felt her heart pounding in her chest as the fighter got closer. Finally, she took a deep breath to steady her nerves. “He’s mine,” she said decisively. “I’m gonna make this bastard pay for what he did to Meteor Squadron.”  
“Like hell, you are,” Vortex ordered. “You barely survived the last time.”  
“So did you!” Eva snapped. “I won’t let him hurt anyone else. You guys take out the transports. I’ll keep him busy.”  
Vortex sighed. “Magnum, you take the lead on the transports. Diamond and I will deal with this guy.”  
Feeling a sort of determination, Eva turned to face Zero and hit the afterburners, going toward him at full speed. As soon as she had a solid lock, she fired two standard missiles and pitched up before he could fire anything at her. Zero dumped countermeasures before either of the missiles could connect and followed after Eva with remarkable agility. He fired missiles and broke off as Vortex came at him with machine-guns. Eva banked right as hard as she could and turned to follow Vortex and Zero. Vortex fired a missile at Zero, but he turned up and looped around before it hit. However, it did lead him right into Eva’s sights, which she took advantage of by hitting him with a brief machine gun burst.  
“Holy shit. Neutron, is that what I think it is?” Threes asked.  
“It’s gotta be,” Neutron answered. “The rumors are true, then.”  
“What rumors?” Magic asked. “What are you talking about?”  
“Rumors have been floating around that there’s some mercenary ace that Erusea hired to test out experimental fighter,” Neutron explained. “I always thought they were just rumors, but…” His voice trailed off as he watched Eva, Vortex, and Zero dance around in the sky.  
“Hold on a second. Are you telling me this guy, the bastard that killed half of Meteor Squadron, including Domino, is some petty mercenary?” Eva felt pure outrage at that moment. To think that Domino died to some mercenary working for nothing, but a paycheck infuriated her. She throttled up and banked left, looking over her shoulder to see if Zero was following. “I’m gonna make this guy pay,” she muttered, dropping into a cobra and watching Zero shoot past her. She leveled her plane out and fired a single 6AAM at him, but he deployed countermeasures and banked right.  
Eva followed after him, but by the time she finished her turn, Zero had already started going up and looping around. Not to get away from her, but to get a shot in at Vortex. Both pilots got some hits in on each other with their guns, but Vortex seemed worse off. He pulled up higher into the sky while Zero looped around to go after Eva again.  
“Vortex, are you ok?” Eva asked as her flight lead started to put some distance between himself and Zero.  
“Yeah- yeah, I’m fine,” Vortex finally answered after a brief period of silence. “Instruments are alright for now, but we can’t hang around forever. Magnum, what’s your status?”  
“We’re almost to the transports,” she answered.  
Vortex let out a small sigh of relief. “All right, Diamond. Just a little bit longer. You’ve got this.”  
Eva pitched straight up before turning left partway through to try and get behind Zero. “You don’t worry about me.” She could feel herself getting short on breath, but she carried on. She fired a standard missile as she finally got behind Zero, and to her surprise, it actually hit him. What was even more surprising, though, was that he managed to stay flying.  
Suddenly, Zero performed a rather impressive kulbit and positioned himself right behind Eva. He wasted no time in letting a barrage of gunfire loose, scoring several hits. Eva grunted and pulled away as hard as she could before Zero could fire a missile at her. She looked at her instruments and went over each of them to check for damage before turning her attention back to Zero after seeing that she was in the clear.  
“We’re taking out the transports now!” Magnum reported. “Just a minute more, and we’re out of here.”  
Eva banked left and looped around to make another pass at Zero. She fired another missile as soon as she had a solid lock, but he pulled away at the last second, heading straight up into the sky before making a high-G turn to face Eva again. Zero fired missiles as he and Eva flew straight at each other, but Eva used up the last of her countermeasures and pulled away before they came close. Eva kept her eyes locked on the fighter until it flew directly over her head, allowing her to pitch up and loop around to get behind Zero. She was about to fire but hesitated as she watched Zero with curiosity. Until then, he had been maneuvering like crazy, but right then, he flew in a completely straight line toward the transports- even though he was too far to reach them before the last one got shot down. Eva didn’t hesitate for very long, though. She fired two standard missiles, and while Zero tried to evade them, he wasn’t fast enough, and both of them hit. He pulled away and started heading back in the direction he came from.  
“Just one more hit oughta finish him!” Eva announced, turning to follow him.  
"Diamond, let him go,” Vortex ordered. “We’re low enough on fuel as it is. You don’t need to waste anymore by going after him.”  
“What?” Eva demanded. “You’re saying after everything he did to us, I have him here on a silver platter, and I can’t finish him?”  
"It’s not worth it,” Vortex insisted. “Let’s just regroup and head back.”  
Eva’s gaze shifted between the retreating Zero and the rest of the squadron. Finally, she took a deep breath and pulled away from Zero. “Fine,” she muttered.  
“Hey, Crosswind. Didn’t you say the transport carrying the APS unit would have a big explosion when he hit it?” Magic asked.  
“Yeah… Why do you ask?” Concern started creeping into the AWACS operator’s voice.  
“Well, we took out all the transports, and there was no explosion,” Magic told him.  
“What? But that doesn’t make any sense. It should’ve- wait, what the hell?” The concern in Crosswind’s voice was replaced by confusion. “I’ve got another transport on my scopes, heading away from San Salvacion at bearing 160.”  
“Son of a bitch, the whole convoy was a diversion!” Charger realized.  
“Well, let’s go get that transport,” Trench said.  
“We can’t,” Crosswind told them. “You won’t have enough fuel to make it back to base if you do.”  
“Shit!” Magnum cursed. “So all of this was for nothing?”  
Vortex let out a heavy sigh. “Rogue Squadron, Castor Squadron, let’s head back to base. There’s nothing left for us to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's not really an Ace Combat story if it doesn't have a massive furball mission. I've gotta say, though, this chapter took me like all day and I think it might be the best chapter of Clouded Skies so far.


	26. Combat Flight Test #3

Jacob followed Doctor Francis out from the main base and into the hangar. However, instead of seeing his usual white and orange plane, he saw a new dark gray one in its place. It was a lot sleeker than the one he had flown previously, which was partly because there were no missile pylons on the wings, unlike before.

“This the new Skyshard model?” Jacob asked, circling around the plane. “Gotta admit, it looks damn fine. What’s new about it?” He didn’t look up from the plane as he spoke. He felt as if he needed to observe every detail there was to see.

“The most significant change, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, is that we’ve internalized the weapon storage, which should help with maneuverability,” Doctor Francis explained. “We haven’t made any changes to the actual weapons it carries yet, but we plan on amending that with the next model, which is hopefully the final product. Some other changes we made were in the balance of the airframe, the thrusters, and a new experimental engine.” He gestured to the general area of each upgrade as he listed them off.”

“So, by the next model, our work here is gonna be done?” Jacob asked, finally taking his eyes off the Skyshard and looking back at Doctor Francis.

“Yours is,” Doctor Francis answered. “I’ve still got a long road ahead of me.”

Jacob shrugged as he meandered over to the ladder to the cockpit. “Well, how about we take this baby for a spin, then?” His impatience was on full display.

Doctor Francis nodded. “That’s why I brought you out here, isn’t it? Last time I checked, there’s not much work that we can do by just sitting around and gawking at it.”

Jacob brushed off the doctor’s dry remark and climbed up into the cockpit, slipping his helmet on and putting his oxygen mask up to his mouth. As soon as he sat down, he noticed that the seat seemed far more comfortable as well- a change he definitely appreciated considering how bad the last one was. It felt like he would always be sitting on a pillow filled with rocks.

“Alright, let’s get this baby up in the air,” Jacob muttered to himself as he went through his pre-flight checks. While he looked over his plane’s systems, the thought of finishing his contract soon lingered in the back of his mind. It had only been a few months since Erusea employed him, but it felt like so much longer, especially the period where he was grounded thanks to the pilot in Farbanti.

Finally, he switched his engines on, and a smile spread across his face as the sound of the engines humming filled his ears. It was a sound that he would never get tired of. Although it did sound different from before, he expected as much on account of the new engine. All the same, it was still a beautiful sound.

Suddenly, a new sound filled the air: a siren coming from outside the hangar. “Zero. Do you read me?” General Shay’s voice crackled to life over the radio.

“Loud and clear, sir. What’s going on?” Jacob asked. He tried to look outside the hangar to answer his own question, but his efforts proved unsuccessful.

“An air convoy carrying vital cargo has come under attack by Osean forces. The escort fighters are reporting that the Blue Kestrel is among them,” General Shay reported.

Jacob’s heart started racing as soon as he heard mention of the Blue Kestrel. Based on the rumors he caught wind of, he doubted that they even existed. After all, he knew how rare a pilot of that caliber was. With their existence all but confirmed by General Shay, though, Jacob now hoped that they would put up a good fight.

“I take it you want me to get up there and save the convoy?” Jacob finally asked after collecting his thoughts.

“If you can save the convoy, fine, but your primary objective is to help the escort fighters,” Doctor Francis butted in.

“The escorts?” Jacob echoed. “I thought the convoy was carrying important cargo. Wouldn’t I want to help them first and foremost?”

“That’s classified information, _mercenary_.” Doctor Francis uttered that final word with so much disdain that it made Jacob flinch a bit in his seat. “Now take off, and if you see the Blue Kestrel, engage them. I want to see how this fighter performs against a skilled pilot.”

Jacob took a deep breath as the hangar doors slid open. “Roger that, sir. Taxying onto the runway now,” he reported.

As his plane slowly rolled onto the runway, he felt himself jittering with impatience, or perhaps nervousness. Although, he didn’t know what he had to be nervous about. He was in an experimental superplane. He had basically nothing to worry about. Yet, the thought of the Blue Kestrel nagged in the back of his mind. He was likely about to go up against a legend amongst the Erusean Air Force, and from the way they told it, their skills might’ve even come close to the infamous Demon Lord of the Round Table.

The Demon Lord was something of an inspiration for Jacob. Of course, most mercenaries looked up to him after his feats during the Belkan War. What stood out to Jacob, though, was the compassion the Demon Lord showed on the battlefield. Considering how mercenaries got paid for every kill, most took every kill they could get, but not the Demon Lord. He chose to spare the pilots he incapacitated mid-battle—Jacob based so much of his career around the ace, including his honor. Every once and a while, he considered modeling his livery after the Demon Lord’s, but he never actually did it.

“Zero, takeoff confirmed,” the tower operator reported, snapping Jacob from his thoughts.

Jacob retracted the landing gear and climbed up higher into the sky, breaking through the clouds in only a few seconds. He adjusted his course to the vector specified on his radar and started increasing his speed, but as the Skyshard began to get faster, he noticed that its acceleration was far slower than before. Not only that, but its top speed seemed lower as well.

“Hey, Doc. Is this thing supposed to be slower than the last model?” Jacob asked.

“No, it’s supposed to be the opposite, actually. How much slower is it?” Doctor Francis replied.

Jacob looked down at his instruments. “About a few hundred klicks an hour,” he guessed. “Acceleration was a lot slower as well.”

After a brief moment of silence, Doctor Francis finally spoke up again. “Alright, you’ll have to continue on mission. We can take a look when we get back.”

Jacob nodded, even though Doctor Francis couldn’t see him. “Wilco, I’m Oscar Mike,” he reported before looking back up at the empty skies ahead of him as he sped toward his objective.

As he got closer to the area marked on his radar, he repeatedly tried to raise any Eruseans on the radio. Each time he tried, though, the only thing that greeted him was radio static. He kept trying every few minutes, growing more and more frustrated with the lack of any response, until finally, he heard someone’s voice.

“Please, help us!” they pleaded. “These Osean pilots showed up and shot down all of our escorts. They’re coming for us!”

“Don’t worry,” Jacob assured them. “I’ll get you guys out of here.”

As the enemy radar contacts showed up on his HUD, he found himself staring in disbelief at how many there were. He counted 15, all various aircraft types. They all broke away almost immediately, all of them except an Su-35 and an Su-37, which turned straight for him. Even from a distance, Jacob could make out the blue on the wingtips of the Su-35.

“So you are real,” he muttered. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

He waited until he was within range to fire missiles, but before he could fire anything, the Blue Kestrel already got a lock on him and fired two missiles before turning straight up into the sky.

“You’re quick,” he said as he deployed countermeasures and turned to follow them. “But not quick enough.” He shot two standard missiles at the Blue Kestrel but broke off as soon as he noticed the Su-37 barreling toward him with machine guns. “Two on one, eh?” he asked as he watched the Su-37 pass by and make a loop around to follow him. “Fine. Let’s dance.”

The Su-37 sent an HPAA flying toward him, so he pitched up and looped around to evade it. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize until it was too late that his maneuver put him right in the Blue Kestrel’s sights. He braced as they strafed his plane with machine guns, and he quickly looked over his instruments to make sure nothing was too severely damaged. Once he confirmed that his plane was still alright, he banked left as tight as he could try and get on the Blue Kestrel’s tail.

“You two have coordination,” he admitted. “But that’ll only get you so far.”

Jacob accelerated to get a sure shot on the Blue Kestrel, but just as he was about to fire, they angled upward into a cobra, dropping their speed causing him to fly past. As the Blue Kestrel came to a near-complete stop mid-air, Jacob took the time to inspect the plane further. He looked up and down the Su-35, but he froze as soon as his eyes saw the tail. Sitting just below the image of a kestrel that made them so infamous, there was a personalized emblem- the same crystal the pilot in Farbanti had on the tail of their plane.

“So you lived,” he said, smirking slightly. “I’m impressed.” He kept looking at their plane as his admiration for the Blue Kestrel increased significantly. After the damage that he did to them, Jacob expected them to crash for sure, but now that he saw them here after all the time that had passed, he had nothing but respect for the pilot of that plane, whoever they were.

The Blue Kestrel fired a missile at him as soon as they leveled out from their cobra, and Jacob made as hard of a right turn as he could, launching countermeasures as he did so. He quickly glanced down at his radar and spotted the Su-37 coming in to get another shot at him. Not wanting to be caught off guard like the last time, he pitched up and looped around to face them straight on. Jacob rolled his plane onto his side to make sure he didn’t collide with them and started firing his machine guns. The Su-37 did the same, and while both of them took some hits, Jacob seemed to do more damage.

As the Su-37 began to break off, Jacob pulled away to distance himself from the Blue Kestrel before coming back around to engage them again. Before he knew it, though, the Blue Kestrel came up behind him and fired a missile before he had time to react. He quickly surveyed the damage before looping around in a kulbit maneuver to get behind them. As soon as he leveled out, he set the Blue Kestrel in his sights and hit them with a barrage of machine-gun fire.

The Blue Kestrel broke off and looped around to fire another missile at him as they passed by. Jacob waited until the missile was about to hit before outmaneuvering it with a high-G turn as he pitched up straight into the sky. He climbed to a higher altitude before making another high-G turn and looking directly at the Blue Kestrel. He fired another pair of standard missiles, but the Blue Kestrel launched countermeasures before any of them connected. Jacob was about to loop around and go for another pass, but a cry for help caught his attention.

“They’re here!” One of the transport pilots called out. “We need help. They’re picking us o-“ Their voice was replaced by static.

Jacob looked down at his radar frantically and saw that the other Osean fighters had gone toward the transports. “Shit!” he cursed, breaking away to try and help them. “Hang on! I’m coming,” he assured them, but in the end, all he could do was watch as one by one, each transport plane, and all the people in them, fell out of the sky. As the last transport plane went down, Jacob barely noticed the missile alert blaring in his cockpit. Two missiles crashed into his plane, shaking the frame and causing a new warning to start up. “Goddammit,” he muttered as he broke off and started heading back to base.

As he got farther away from the Osean fighters, he noticed the Blue Kestrel tailing after him from a distance before breaking off. Jacob let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the enemy fighters withdraw from the AO, but he still felt a lump in his chest as he thought back to all the pilots aboard those transports. He might’ve been able to help them if he was just a bit faster, but he wasn’t, and now they were dead.

By the time Jacob landed back at the base, he was just about ready to lose his mind after listening to the warning in his cockpit for so long. He taxied into the hangar and, as he expected, Doctor Francis was waiting for him, looking about as furious as he was when Jacob came back from Farbanti.

“Again!?” Doctor Francis asked as Jacob climbed out of the cockpit. “I thought the reason we hired you was that you were the best of the best?”

“I _am_ the best,” Jacob assured the doctor as he took off his flight gear. “But the Blue Kestrel… they’ve got some serious skill.” He thought back to their duel, watching their moves play out in his mind. “They’re the same pilot I faced off with over Farbanti, the one who trashed up the last model,” he explained.

Doctor Francis grumbled something under his breath. “Well, whoever this Blue Kestrel is, they’ve seriously set Project Skyshard back, and for that, they’re on my bad side.” He started pacing around. “I’ll have some intelligence officers see what they can find out about them, but for now, what happened out there?”

“Well, because of the engine, the escorts were all downed by the time I got there,” Jacob explained. “I tried to stop them from shooting down the transports, but… I wasn’t fast enough.”

Jacob expected Doctor Francis to be furious with him, but instead, he seemed disinterested. “Well, the loss won’t set us back too much. Especially since the cargo made it to its destination safely.”

“What do you mean,” Jacob asked, raising an eyebrow with confusion. “The transports were all shot down. How could the cargo arrive at its destination?”

“That convoy was a diversion,” Doctor Francis explained. “The real one headed off in the other direction with no issues.”

Until then, Jacob had been on the defensive, keeping himself from getting lectured, but after that, he couldn’t bite his tongue anymore. “You mean you sent all those people out there just to die?!” he demanded.

“That’s why they enlisted, to die for their country,” Doctor Francis countered. “Besides, they weren’t meant to die. You were supposed to save them.”

“Why leave it up to chance?” Jacob asked. “Are they all just pawns on a board for you?”

Doctor Francis narrowed his eyes, glaring at the pilot. “Please, you kill people for money. You should be the last person to try and claim the moral high ground.” He leaned in right up in Jacob’s face. “Don’t forget that I’m the one who decides whether or not you get paid. You’re expendable. If you die, we can just hire another pilot, so do yourself a favor and know your place.” He spun around and made his way out of the hangar, leaving Jacob alone with his damaged plane.


	27. Revenge

As the sounds of shrieking engines died throughout the air around Air Base 262, so too did the wind, bringing a feeling of tranquility to the area. Inside the hangar, Eva let out a heavy sigh as she took off her oxygen mask. She sat still in the cockpit of her Su-35 for a moment, clenching her hand into a fist as she thought about Zero getting away. After everything he did, Eva was so close to finishing him off once and for all, but then Vortex stepped in. She grew even angrier once she had the realization that she might not get the chance again. Eva felt like she had to do something to get her anger out. As soon as she climbed out of her plane, she took off her helmet and held it in her hands. She felt like hurling it across the room but ultimately decided against it. Instead, she saw Vortex climbing down from his plane, and she marched over to him.

“Why did you stop me?” she demanded. “I could’ve shot him down then and there. All of the people he killed could’ve been avenged, so _why_ did you stop me?”

At first, Vortex looked surprised by Eva’s sudden aggression, like it was the last thing he possibly expected. He paused for a moment, thinking before his eyes eventually narrowed as he looked down at her. “And would that have made you feel better?” he asked, raising his voice with anger that Eva had rarely, if ever, seen from him. “Would shooting a damaged and retreating aircraft in the back have fixed anything?”

Eva scoffed, rolling her eyes. “What? You want me to treat him with honor? He’s a _mercenary_ , Vortex. You think he cared about Domino, or Torch, or anyone else he shot down? He did it for a paycheck. As far as I’m concerned, he lost the right to be treated with any sort of honor.”

Vortex sighed heavily, leaning against the side of his plane. “Jesus, Diamond. Will you listen to yourself? I miss Domino, Torch, and all the others too. I’ve known them for years, but if there’s anything that I’ve learned in my experience, it’s that revenge doesn’t change a damn thing. Not only that, but it just puts you in unnecessary danger.” He paused for a moment. “Look, I don’t know about them, but if I got shot down, I wouldn’t want you getting killed trying to “avenge” me or whatever else you want to call it.”

“I wasn’t putting myself in danger,” Eva defended herself. “He was nearly done for. I just had to finish him off.”

“You threw yourself headfirst at an advanced experimental fighter. If that’s not putting yourself in danger, then I don’t know what is,” Vortex said sternly. “Look, Diamond. You’re a damn good pilot, especially for someone as young as yourself, but you’ve got to know where your boundaries lie.”

“Stop trying to change the topic!” Eva snapped. “This isn’t about me. This is about you and how you stopped me from finishing off Zero.”

“No, this _is_ about you!” Vortex countered in an equally aggressive voice. “Because I want you to realize that chasing after this vendetta isn’t worth shooting someone in the back while they’re retreating. I mean, why bother going through all this trouble? Is this what they’d want? Is it worth it?”

“You don’t understand, Vortex.” Eva felt her eyes getting watery, so she looked away to wipe them off. “When you, Charger, and Lucky were grounded to deal with Lucky’s trial, and Magic, Poet, and I were put in Meteor Squadron in the meantime, I just…” She knew what she wanted to say. Still, no matter how hard Eva tried, she couldn’t put any combination of words together that would do her thoughts justice. “I don’t know,” she finally said. She sat down on the cold cement floor, piecing the words together in her head. “When I was in Meteor Squadron, Domino put so much faith in me,” Eva spoke only a few words at a time. “He made me his number three, and he sent me on that stealth mission alone. I just don’t know why.” She sighed, letting her head fall into her hands. “I felt confident in myself because of him. I probably wouldn’t have taken on Zero in Farbanti if not for that,” she explained. “I- I always wanted to ask him why he put so much trust in me, but… I never got the chance, thanks to that bastard Zero.” Her hands tightened up into fists as her mind replayed that moment over and over. “That’s why I want him dead.”

Vortex’s expression softened a bit. “Diamond…” he began before trailing off again. Eventually, he sighed and sat down next to her. “Look, I know how much it hurts to lose someone. Nothing I can say changes the fact that they’re not coming back, and it hurts, but that also goes for you too. Meteor Squadron gave their lives so that we would live. If you get yourself killed chasing after revenge, then their deaths would be for nothing,” he pointed out. “It’s not easy to lose someone, but you’ll get through it- I know you will.”

Up until that point, Eva hadn’t realized that she started crying again. She wiped away the tears rolling down her cheeks and looked up at Vortex, smiling. “Thank you,” she said quietly.

Vortex smirked and gave her a light pat on the back as he stood up. “Don’t mention it. Come on, let’s go. The others are probably waiting for us so we can do the debriefing.”

Vortex helped Eva up, and together, the two of them left the hangar and made their way over to the base's main building. As Eva followed Vortex across the base, she noticed that the desert heat didn’t seem as overwhelmingly hot as it did before. Although, that still didn’t stop her from being caught off guard by the blast of air-conditioning that hit her every time she stepped into the main building. She even felt a shiver run down her spine as she made her way up the stairs with Vortex. Finally, they stepped into the briefing room and sat down with the rest of the squadron.

“Good, you’re here,” Gates said. “Let’s get started.” He booted up the briefing software. “We’re still trying to piece together what exactly happened here, today,” he admitted. “All we know is that we failed to carry out the original objective.”

“Hmph, good to know all that hard work we did was for nothing,” Magnum muttered. “We went up against all those planes for no reason, essentially?”

Major Tillmin nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. What I’m more concerned about is why the APS Unit wasn’t in the convoy and why it was going in the direction that it was.” He drew a line from San Salvacion going in the direction of the lone transport. “Their route would take them somewhere to the east part of Usea, but I don’t know why. There’s nothing over there of any significance.”

“If your intel on this convoy was wrong, is it possible that all of your intel is compromised?” Crosswind asked.

Tillmin shook his head. “No, I doubt it. This feels like it’s a part of something bigger. I just can’t tell what.” He scratched the top of his head. “Besides, most of my intelligence is targets that are very significant to Erusea. It’s hard to fake that.”

“There’s also the matter of that experimental fighter you guys came across,” Gates pointed out. “Is there anything else you know about that?”

“No, I know as much as Castor Squadron, I’m afraid. Quite frankly, I didn’t even think that they existed. Although, the fact that you were able to repel him successfully is somewhat reassuring,” Tillmin said. 

“Either way, it’ll be something that we need to be cautious of all the same,” Gates reminded everyone. “We don’t know when they could show up or where, so we’ll have to treat every operation as if they could be on their way.”

“So, what’s next, then?” Neutron asked.

“Major Tillmin and I are still putting together a detailed plan of action, so we’re not 100% decided on what the next target is going to be. We’ll notify you as soon as you’re needed, though,” Gates explained. “For now, you’re dismissed. Go ahead and get some rest. You’ve earned it,” he added with a smile. 

Reed let out a heavy sigh of relief as he practically fell into a chair in the mess hall. After a long day of flying around and dogfighting, some time to unwind was always appreciated. The chair he was sitting in wasn’t very comfortable. It was hard, cold, and it was built in a weird shape. At the same time, though, being able to sit down anywhere felt incredibly relaxing. He could feel the tension in his muscles slowly fade away. Suddenly, he heard voices coming from the mess hall entrance, which were gradually getting louder. He looked over to see who it was and saw Castor Squadron coming in.

Neutron quickly spotted Reed and smiled, giving him a friendly wave. “Hey, Charger!” he called out as he and the others came over to join him.

Reed nodded as they sat down at the same table as him. “Hey boys,” he greeted them. “You here to take it easy as well?”

“Yep. Figured we’d knock a beer or two back to celebrate making it out of that mess of a furball,” Bouncer explained. “Care to join us?”

Reed shook his head as soon as he heard the mention of beer. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass on the alcohol. I had some bad experiences with it in the past, so I avoid it wherever I can.” He crossed his arms behind his head as he leaned back into his chair. “I’m just gonna sit back and take it easy.”

Neutron shrugged as he took the cap off the bottle in his hand. “Suit yourself.” He and the others brought their bottles together and took a drink.

“So, how are you guys settling in?” Reed finally asked after a brief period of silence. “I imagine it’s a bit different here than you’re used to.”

“Oh yeah, things are definitely different here,” Mesa said. “Not to mention it’s so much hotter here than it is in San Salvacion.”

Threes chuckled as he took a small sip. “Yeah, no kidding. I swear, I feel like I’m gonna melt out there.”

“Well, yeah. I don’t know what you were expecting from an airbase in the desert, dumbass,” Bouncer teased him, giving him a friendly nudge on the shoulder.

“I think the most interesting part of settling in here has been the people,” Neutron finally answered. “Especially those other pilots,” he added.

Reed nodded. “Oh yeah, I get what you mean. The convicts are definitely an uh… acquired taste, to say the least,” he explained. “If I’m being honest, it feels a bit weird to be asking you guys how you’re settling in when my squadron were the ones settling in not even a month ago,” he admitted.

“Really?” Neutron asked, seemingly quite surprised by that fact.

“Yep. Originally, we were stationed on the Kestrel II in the Spring Sea, so we were away when the war broke out,” Reed told them. “Since we were so close to Farbanti, command sent us to try and seize control to end the war early, but the mission went ass-up, and the Kestrel II sank. After that, we just flew east until we eventually found this place.”

“Man, that’s crazy,” Threes said. “How’d you even make it out?”

“In all honesty, I have no idea,” Reed admitted with a shrug. “I’m just glad Vortex was the one leading the squadron and not me. Quite frankly, I don’t know if I’d ever be able to lead this squadron- not sure I could handle the pressure.”

Neutron shrugged as he took a sip. “Yeah, there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with the job.” He glanced at the rest of his squadron. “Plus, keeping these knuckleheads alive can feel like an impossible task at times,” he added with a snicker.

“Ah, you worry too much, Neutron,” Mesa said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “We’re able to take care of ourselves.”

Neutron chuckled. “Riiight. I’ll believe that when I see it.”

For about another hour or so, Reed sat with the rest of Castor Squadron and passed the time telling stories and joking with each other. It felt nice. The last time he remembered having casual conversations with people not in his squadron was with Meteor Squadron back on the Kestrel II, so he gladly accepted the change of pace, hoping that he and the others would be able to experience it more soon.


	28. Operation Trench Run

As Eva followed the rest of her squadron into the briefing room, the first thing she noticed was Major Tillmin. Specifically, it was what he was wearing that stood out. Rather than being dressed in his officer’s uniform that he usually wore, he now had on combat fatigues, a plate carrier, and a helmet.

Magnum snickered as soon as she saw him. “I hope you realize how ridiculous you look,” she taunted him.

“What’s with the getup?” Poet asked as he and the others sat down in their usual seats.

“I’ll explain in a moment,” Tillmin assured them. “For now, I’ll let Commander Gates get the briefing started.” He nodded to the base commander and stepped back, allowing him to take the floor.

Gates walked over to the computer and started up the briefing software. “As I’m sure you’re all aware, the main threat to all of our operations here has been the enemy’s drones that respond to nearly every move we make.” He sighed. “We can’t be sure since we have no way of contacting Osean command, but it’s safe to assume that the main forces are experiencing this as well. Fortunately, we may be able to help them out a bit.”

Tillmin stepped forward. “The reason these drones are always so quick to respond to our attacks is due to an auto-intercept system Erusea developed,” he explained. “Essentially, it works like this: If enemy aircraft are detected flying into Erusea territory, and they don’t respond to Erusea’s IFF, drones are automatically scrambled to intercept the enemy aircraft.” He placed friendly blips on the briefing map in the east and moved them into Erusea’s territory in red, which were quickly shot down by a group of red blips he placed. “Naturally, Erusea had to put a barrier in place which would determine when to check the IFF of enemy aircraft,” he continued, typing onto the computer. “That barrier is right here.” He placed a wall down running along the Usean Continent where Erusea’s red met with Osea’s blue. “As you can see, it’s completely impenetrable, or at least, it is for now,” he added with a smirk. “Your mission is going to change that.” Tillmin stepped back, allowing Gates to sit down at the computer.

“Major Tillmin brought us a lot of valuable information when he defected, and among that information was the locations of many key targets. One such target is right here,” Gates said as he zoomed the map of Usea into an area southwest of their base.

“What is it, exactly?” Vortex asked. “What makes it such a special target?”

“It’s a communication and data relay facility,” Gates explained. “This isn’t just any comm facility, though. This is where all of the launch orders for the auto-intercept system go through. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to outright destroy it without attracting too much attention. This will be risky enough already. That’s where Major Tillmin comes in.” He zoomed in further on the map, displaying a clear view of the facility.

“The first step is actually getting to the facility. As Commander Gates said, we don’t want to attract too much attention. Already we run the risk of bringing the Arsenal Birds down on us, as well as auto-intercept drones, and potentially that experimental fighter. Basically, we need to minimize the amount of time between the enemy detecting us and the moment we’re in range. In order to do that, you’ll need to make your approach from in the Gnome Ravine.”

“Hang on. Back up,” Slipstream cut him off. “Are you telling me that you want us to approach this facility from _inside_ a ravine?”

“If there were another way in, we wouldn’t be doing this,” Gates assured him. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a choice if we want to get this done.” He leaned in front of the computer. “You’ll make your approach from the east, keeping your altitude below 600 meters up until you reach the base,” he explained. “Once you’ve made contact, you’ll clear the ground defenses and allow Deviant Squadron to land and breach the facility, accompanied by Major Tillmin.”

Axe scoffed. “We really just gonna let the guy who just defected two weeks ago back into enemy lines with a gun?” he asked facetiously.

“I’ve known Major Tillmin for years,” Gates assured the pilot. “I trust him with my life. Once he’s inside the facility with Deviant Squadron, they’ll make their way into the main hub, where Major Tillmin will punch a hole in Erusea’s auto-intercept system, allowing Osea to slip through said hole without any issues.”

“Remember, time is of the essence here,” Tillmin reminded them. “This is a crucial target for Erusea, so they’re going to make sure that they don’t lose it. The sooner we exfil, the better chance we have of getting out alive.”

“Are there any questions?” Gates asked, looking around the room. “No? Then let’s get going.”

Eva took a deep breath as she lowered her altitude, following Vortex’s lead as they approached the ravine. She felt herself getting butterflies in her stomach as she approached the entrance to the ravine. Reducing her speed, she kept herself in formation and her finger off the trigger.

“Rogue Squadron, Castor Squadron, you’re approaching waypoint one,” Crosswind informed them. “Reduce your altitude to 600 meters. You’re also forbidden from using weapons until you reach the facility.”

“Roger that, Crosswind,” Vortex replied. “We’ll see you on the other side.”

“Hopefully,” Slipstream added. “I still think this is crazy.”

“Oh, come on, Slipstream,” Lucky teased him. “Out of all the things we’ve done, this is probably only about the third worst idea we’ve had.”

“No, no, I’m actually with Slipstream on this one,” Magic chimed in. “This is a _terrible_ idea.”

Eva smirked at the exchange but didn’t add anything to it. Personally, she was excited about the mission. Obviously, she was nervous. Flying through a ravine was not only risky but crazy. At the same time, though, there was something in the back of her mind that she couldn’t quite describe that made her feel actually eager to fly through a ravine.

“Rogue, Castor, you’ve passed through waypoint one. Radio silence is in effect from here on out,” Crosswind ordered before cutting his mic.

Eva gripped her control stick and rolled onto her side, making the first sharp turn to the right. She quickly leveled out her plane again and continued straight, staying right behind Lucky as she kept her speed just high enough that she wouldn’t stall. She held her breathing steady, locking her eyes on the next turn. At the moment, the ravine was fairly wide- enough that they could probably have three planes spread out, even though they stayed in a mostly single-file line. However, Eva had a feeling that was going to change very soon.

The next turn wasn’t as sharp as the first one, but it did have another one almost immediately after it. Eva increased her altitude to make sure she didn’t stall and crash into the bottom of the ravine and inverted her plane, pitching back down only a few dozen meters before passing over the altitude restriction. She rolled around over onto her front side and let out a sigh of relief upon seeing that they had another shot of mostly straight flying, with a few areas where the ravine jutted out on either side, which Eva remedied by rolling her plane onto its side.

The next turn saw Eva’s worries realized, as the ravine got significantly narrower, not to mention bendier. She lowered her speed to get the maneuverability she needed to make the turns but nearly stalled in the process. The next hurdle was an outcrop of rocks at the top of either end of the ravine, which forced everyone to dive down even further. Eva flew less than a hundred meters above the ground, and at that moment, she remembered how much she hated low-altitude flying. The ever-constricting walls of the ravine didn’t help either.

As soon as she could, Eva raised her altitude back up to about 300 meters, where she immediately had to make another tight turn. After that, though, she was relieved to see the ravine start to widen again. After continuing, she let exhaled sharply as she and the others finally laid eyes on their destination.

“Rogue, Castor, you’ve made it to the facility.” Eva wondered if Crosswind knew how glad she was to hear his voice after the long and tense silence during their ravine flight. “Radio silence has been lifted, and you are weapons-free,” he informed the pilots. “Clear the way for Deviant Squadron.”

“Quit worrying, Crosswind,” Magnum said dismissively. “There’s hardly any ground defenses here. I thought you said this was an important target.”

“Let’s cut the chatter,” Vortex stepped in before anyone else could reply. “Remember, time is of the essence here,” he reminded them. “Let’s get to work.”

“Roger that. Rogue 10, engaging,” Eva replied, climbing up to a higher altitude before diving back down, taking out the first two AA guns in their way.

As expected, the monotonous beeping of the missile alert in Eva’s cockpit went off, and she instinctively pitched up before rolling around and turning to avoid the missile. As soon as the alert quieted down, she angled herself down again and destroyed the SAM launcher that initially fired at her. Surprisingly, though, there weren’t many ground defenses. After only a few minutes, they had already taken everything out.

“Deviant Squadron, the way is clear,” Vortex reported. “Hope you’re ready to make this trip quick.”

Deviant 1 laughed. “Don’t you worry, Rogue 1. We’re all ready to go here, even our special guest.”

“You just focus on doing your job,” Tillmin cut in. “This isn’t my first rodeo. I’m perfectly capable of handling myself.”

Eva circled around the main facility as the helicopters carrying Deviant Squadron touched down on the ground. She looked over at her radar every few seconds to make sure there weren’t any more incoming hostiles, but at the moment, it was clear.

“This is Deviant 1; we’ve made contact inside the facility!” the ground leader reported. “This old guy is surprisingly good with a pistol,” he remarked.

“Copy that, Deviant 1,” Crosswind replied. “Keep us updated on- wait… what the hell?”

“What’s up, Crosswind?” Charger asked, concern creeping into his voice.

“I’ve got allied fighters on the radar, coming in from bearing 140,” the AWACS operator said. “Eight Su-35s.”

“Allied fighters?” Eva echoed. She felt a flicker of hope rising into her chest. Could it be possible that they were finally about to regroup with allied forces? After all of this time stuck behind enemy lines, was it about to be over?

“Osean fighters, this is the AWACS Crosswind of the Air Force Base 262. What is your affiliation?”

No reply came from the friendly fighters, but Eva and the others formed up to greet them all the same. At the moment, Eva didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. All she could think about was getting back to some semblance of normalcy, which is why she was caught completely off guard when the approaching Su-35s started to get a radar lock.

“Hey, what the hell’s going on?” Magic asked before Eva could get the chance. “Why are they locking onto us?”

“Osean fighters, hold your fire!” Crosswind cried out. “We’re friendly, goddammit!”

“We may be friendly, but I don’t think they are,” Neutron observed.

“No shit!” Axe exclaimed. “What gave you that idea? Was it the machine gun tracers? Or was it the missiles?”

“Knock it off, Rogue 4,” Crosswind barked. “All aircraft, break off. Head straight at bearing triple zero.”

“Fly straight?” Magnum asked. “I knew you hated us, but now you’re not even _trying_ to hide the fact that you wanna kill us.”

“Just goddamn do it!” Crosswind snapped. “If you fly that way, I can know which of you is actually friendly and which of you is hostile.”

Eva broke deployed flares and banked right to get the Su-35 off her tail. She throttled up as high as she could go and turned to the direction that Crosswind specified. They put some distance between themselves and the enemy fighters, but the Su-35s were quickly gaining. Eva felt her heart pounding in her chest as the radar lock warning turned into a missile warning, but all she could do was fly straight.

“Crosswind, we’re not getting any younger here,” Threes said impatiently.

“Just hold on a second. I’m sending the ID data,” Crosswind replied, equally as impatiently.

As soon as Eva heard a high-pitched ding in her cockpit, she turned up and to the left, looping around to face the now hostile Su-35s. The first fighter in her sight was facing right at her. They both fired missiles at each other, but Eva managed to evade just before she got hit. The other fighter, however, was not so lucky. With the first fighter down, Eva swooped back down and put some distance between herself and the rest before looping around again.

“What the hell? More contacts incoming on radar,” Crosswind announced before he finally realized what was incoming. “It’s Helios projectiles!”

Several light blue balls lit up the sky and shook Eva to her core as she rolled away from them. “Goddammit,” she muttered. “Just what we needed.”

“Crosswind, what the hell is going on up there?” Deviant 1 asked. “We can feel the explosions from inside the facility.”

“Don’t worry about it, just focus on your job. Everything up here is just fine,” Crosswind said before turning his attention back to the situation that was, in fact, not fine. “More Helios projectiles inbound!” he warned. “Sending the predicted impact zone.”

Eva looked down at her radar and the red circles that just appeared. She immediately broke off from the Su-35 she was chasing and flew straight out of the impact zone. She circled around and fired two missiles at one of the enemy fighters that was just escaping the Helios’ range. One hit, which allowed her to slip behind it and finish it off with a few shots from her machine gun, only seconds before the next wave of Helios missiles shook the sky.

“I think this is the part of the mission where I realize, faster than you guys, that this is not worth it,” Dodger announced as he turned toward the bearing that they came from.

Slipstream let out a heavy sigh. “You know… I don’t why we’re surprised by this anymore. I mean, it’s fairly obvious that you’re just totally spineless, so it should come as no surprise whenever you run away like a coward.”

“Quit chastising him and focus on taking out this last fighter,” Vortex barked.

“Oh shit,” Crosswind muttered. “Major, what’s your status?”

“I’ve successfully punched a hole in the auto-intercept system, but for some reason, it’s not showing me where the weak spot is,” Tillmin reported. “If you give me a few more minutes, I should be able to find it.”

“Nope, scratch that. You’re done now,” Crosswind told him. “I’ve got eyes an Arsenal Bird entering the AO. You guys have got to get out. Like, _right now._ ”

Tillmin paused for a moment before responding. “Shit. Roger that, we’re returning to the choppers.”

“We just dealt with the last fighter,” Lucky reported as he pulled away from the explosion. “So, we’re waiting on you guys to get out of here.”

“Well, there’s no need for all of us to stay here. The faster we get out of here, the better,” Vortex said. “Magnum, take Axe, Poet, Lucky, Diamond, and Trench, and RTB through the ravine,” he ordered. “Everyone else, we’ll stay here to cover Deviant Squadron’s retreat.”

Eva formed up behind Magnum’s F-15 in a single-file line, letting out an exasperated sigh as she and the others followed her back through the ravine and back toward their base.


	29. Operation Javelin

“I wonder how much longer this is gonna go on,” Magic wondered aloud.

“Hm?” Eva asked, looking over at her. “What do you mean?’

“Just… everything, I guess,” Magic answered. “This whole thing. Like, sure, we’ve been doing alright against Erusea, but where’s it getting us?”

At first, Eva’s only reply was a shrug. In truth, she hadn’t given the question much thought. She had thought about it from time to time, but it wasn’t like she was losing any sleep over it. “I guess we’re just gonna keep holding out until our allies push further west and regroup,” she finally said. “And in the meantime, if we’re able to wreak havoc on Erusea, then so be it. At least, that’s how I see it.”

“What if there aren’t any friendly forces left, though?” Magic asked. “It’s been over a month since we got here, and we still haven’t made contact with anyone. We could be the last of the Osean forces on the continent for all we know.”

Eva paused. For a moment, she wasn’t sure what to say. “Yeah, you’ve got a point,” she admitted. “It’s honestly a bit frustrating. I just want things to go back to the way they were, but I guess the chances of that happening are slim to none. Especially when we can’t seem to find this facility that’s jamming our transmissions.”

Magic nodded in agreement. “Mhm. In the end, it all comes down to that one facility. If we can just get rid of it, then we can contact allied forces, but as long as it’s still up, we’re stuck here.”

Eva let out a frustrated sigh. “It just aggravates me to think that we could be out of here with probably barely any effort at all if we just knew where it was.”

Before Magic got a chance to reply, Poet appeared in the doorway to their room. “Hey, Tillmin and Gates called a briefing,” he informed them. “Tillmin said time was of the essence, so we might wanna hurry.”

Eva and Magic stood up without another word, following Poet out of their room and toward the briefing room.

“So what exactly are we here for that’s so urgent it can’t wait?” Slipstream asked impatiently, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You’ll see in just a moment,” Tillmin assured him without looking up from the computer screen as he loaded up the briefing software.

“However, before we begin with the briefing, there is one quick thing I want to address,” Gates stepped in. “Since Castor Squadron has fewer pilots than Rogue Squadron, we decided that we’re going to try and even things out a bit. Slipstream, Diamond,” he turned to face the two pilots. “You two are going to be moved into Castor Squadron as Castor 5 and 6 respectively, for the time being, anyway.”

Eva looked over at Slipstream to try and gauge his reaction to the news, only to realize he was doing the same thing. She tried to figure out what he was thinking about, but the only emotion Eva could gather from his expression was indifference. In all honesty, Eva wasn’t quite sure what to make of Slipstream in general. He didn’t seem as overly aggressive as Magnum or Axe, and he wasn’t a coward like Dodger, but at the same time, something about him just bugged her, even though she couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

“Are you sure we don’t need more moved over?” Lucky asked. “That’s still nine pilots in Rogue Squadron versus six in Castor Squadron.”

“It’ll be fine,” Gates assured him. “It doesn’t need to be perfectly even. Besides, their skill will make up for it,” he added with a smile before looking back at Major Tillmin. “Are you all set?”

Tillmin nodded as the briefing software appeared on the large screen in the front of the room. “All set,” he replied. “Now, let’s make this quick. We don’t want to waste any time.” He highlighted the two Arsenal Birds that circled the Space Elevator. “By now, I think you’ve come to realize what one of the main threats to our operations has ended up being: the Arsenal Birds. Specifically, though, Justice’s Helios airburst missiles are making things difficult for us. Their long-range capabilities allow them to strike us pretty much anywhere.”

“So, lemme guess… we’re gonna take out Justice?” Magnum guessed.

Tillmin shook his head. “No, that would be far too dangerous with our current resources,” he explained. “However, what we can do is keep them from getting any more accurate.” He turned around to face the computer again and zoomed in on an area west of San Salvacion. “In a few hours, Erusea is going to be launching a satellite from Sierraplata. This satellite is meant to help improve the accuracy of Justice’s Helios missiles. Naturally, we can’t let this happen, so you need to get over there and stop that launch.”

“So what’s the plan, then?” Vortex asked. “Is there any specific way we have to go about this, or are we just going in and blowing shit up?”

“Well, for the most part, you are going in and blowing shit up, but you’re doing it in a certain way,” Tillmin answered with a slight hint of amusement in his voice. “Not far from the satellite launch facility, there’s a series of IRBM silos. We don’t actually have any way of neutralizing them. However, Rogue Squadron will be heading that way and engaging any enemy forces present while Castor Squadron takes out the satellite facility. This way, most of the enemy reinforcements should go the IRBM silos instead of the satellite facility, which will make it easier for Castor Squadron to fend off the reinforcements that they have to deal with.”

“And what exactly should we expect, then?” Neutron asked.

Gates was the one to answer. “The same things we’ve been dealing with this whole time, I suppose,” he speculated. “MQ-99s, standard fighters, or perhaps one of the Arsenal Birds. Nothing you haven’t dealt with before,” he added with a smirk.

“There’s one more thing that we should address,” Crosswind spoke up. “Because of the comm jamming, I’ll likely only be able to communicate with Castor Squadron since Rogue Squadron will be outside my range.” He looked over to Vortex. “In other words, you guys’ll be on your own, so be extra careful.”

Vortex nodded. “Don’t worry, we will be,” he assured the AWACS operator.

“Remember, time is of the essence here,” Tillmin said. “They’ll be launching the satellite soon, so let’s get moving.”

The pilots all stood up and filed out of the briefing room one by one before heading down the halls and over to the hangars in one big group.

“Hey, Diamond.” Lucky gave Eva a nudge on the shoulder as they walked. “You sure you’re all right with this? I mean, we’ve always had each other’s backs, but now… you’re not gonna have us with you.”

“It’ll be fine, Lucky,” Vortex assured him before Eva got a chance to respond. “I know she can do this. That’s why I specifically recommended her to get moved to Castor Squadron.”

At that moment, the situation reminded Eva of when she was temporarily moved into Meteor Squadron back on the Kestrel II. She couldn’t help but wonder if her conversation with Vortex after their last mission had anything to do with his decision, but she didn’t ask. All she could do was hope that she didn’t have to deal with the same situation again. Losing a former squadron once was bad enough. She didn’t want to have to go through that again.

“Well, kid,” Charger said as he patted Eva on the back. “We’ll miss ya out there, but go give those Eruseans hell. We’ll see you after the mission.”

Eva smirked as she climbed into her plane. “Don’t worry, Charger. I’m sure you guys’ll have plenty of fun without me.” She slid her helmet over her head and secured her oxygen mask as she prepared herself for takeoff.

Eva took a deep breath as she saw hostiles start to appear on her HUD. “Contacts sighted,” she announced. “Let’s get to business.”

“Castor Squadron, engage,” Crosswind ordered. “Let’s get this done quick.”

“Feels weird to be in a different squadron,” Slipstream admitted. “Been in Rogue for so long that anything else just sounds weird to hear.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Eva agreed. “Although, quite frankly, I’ve been changing squadrons so much in the last two months that I’m starting to get used to it.”

“Ah, don’t worry. It’s just like Commander Gates said: it’s only temporary,” Neutron assured them. “You’ll probably be back with the others in a few weeks or so.”

“In a few weeks or so, I’m hoping that we’re out of here,” Threes chimed in. “Don’t know how much more I can take of that damn desert.”

Bouncer scoffed. “I think that’s being a bit too optimistic, Threes,” he advised him. “If I had to guess, I’d say this war is gonna carry on for a while longer.”

Slipstream snickered. “Don’t worry, you get used to the heat eventually,” he told Threes. “Granted, it may take a few weeks… or months, really. Your mileage may vary and all that.”

“Faaantasic,” Mesa muttered sarcastically. “Just what I wanted to hear.

“Alright, Castor Squadron,” Crosswind chimed in. “Let’s cut the chatter and get to work.”

“Roger that, Crosswind, Castor Squadron engaging,” Neutron replied.

Eva throttled up and dove down to make a pass over the ground defenses surrounding the facility. She started by taking out two SAM launchers with a pair of standard missiles, followed by a quick machine-gun burst to take out an AA gun. As she pulled back up into the air, a missile alert started to go off in her cockpit. Although Bouncer quickly destroyed the SAM launcher that fired the missile, the missile continued to trail after Eva. She pitched up higher, going almost straight up into the sky before rolling onto her side and going into a loop just before the missile hit her. Since it wasn’t able to hit her, the missile lost its lock and flew straight into the distance, allowing Eva to straighten her plane out and make another pass over the facility. She fired two standard missiles at a tank and took out a pair of AA guns positioned next to each other with her machine guns.

“Heads up, you’ve got Harriers taking off from the facility,” Crosswind advised. “You might wanna take ‘em out before they interfere with the mission.”

Eva looked down at her radar and quickly turned toward the direction where the Harriers slowly lifted off the ground. “I’ve got them,” she announced, readying the LAAMs she had equipped.

“I’ll go with you,” Slipstream said, forming up next to her.

Eva locked onto the closest enemy Harrier and fired a single LAAM. Slipstream did the same, and they both veered off the left. Just before their missiles made contact, the Harriers started accelerating, causing both LAAMs to barely miss their targets. Eva looped around and fired two standard missiles at one of the Harriers at the back of the formation, and Slipstream did the same. The remaining two slip up, breaking off in opposite directions before pitching up higher into the sky. Eva followed after the one that went to the right, firing a few quick bursts from her machine-gun whenever her target was in range. Finally, she got a clear shot and finished the Harrier off with a single missile.

“All Harriers neutralized,” Slipstream reported as he shot down the one he was chasing. “Do we have anything else incoming, Crosswind?”

After a brief pause, Crosswind finally spoke up. “Yep, we’ve got MQ-99s inbound,” he reported. “They’re coming in from bearing 230.”

“Mesa, go with Diamond and Slipstream and deal with those drones,” Neutron ordered. “After they’re gone, that should be all the reinforcements we have to deal with.”

“On it,” Mesa replied as he, Slipstream, and Eva turned to face the drones head-on.

As the three pilots headed for the group of ten drones, Eva started to wish that she brought her 6AAMs instead of her LAAMs. She watched as the distance between them and the drones quickly decreased before finally firing two LAAMS at two different drones. Slipstream and Mesa both fired their special weaponry as well. It was hard to tell whose missiles hit and whose didn’t, but half the drones went down while the rest kept flying. Eva fired a single standard missile at another drone, but it quickly jerked to the left, evading the missile with ease.

“God damn, I forgot how nimble these little shits are,” Eva muttered as she turned to follow after the drones.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Slipstream agreed. “I can never really get a solid hit on them.”

“I’d only ever been on their side up until recently. I had no idea how hard to hit these things are,” Mesa chimed in as he twisted and turned to follow after one of the drones.

Eva instinctively made a high-G turn as soon as she heard a missile alert coming from her cockpit. When the alert kept going, she eventually just deployed countermeasures and pitched up. Eva looked over her shoulder to get a good look at the drone that was following her. After a few seconds of making several small maneuvers to see how it reacted. She straightened her plane out and waited for the drone following her to do the same before putting herself into a cobra maneuver and dropping behind the drone to take it out with a quick missile.

“Man, these AA guns are a pain in the ass,” Bouncer grumbled.

“No kidding, I can’t get close enough without them trying to fill my plane with bullet holes,” Threes chimed in.

“Just keep at it, boys,” Neutron encouraged them. “We should be done in just a little bit.”

“Ah shit. Looks like you’ll be done sooner rather than later,” Crosswind informed the group. “The satellite is launching!”

As if on cue, Eva felt a low rumbling. Suddenly, a rocket started to come out from the ground, getting faster and faster as it went into the sky.

“Is it that it? Did we just lose?” Slipstream asked as he and the others circled around the facility.

“Not yet. There’s still a chance. If you guys are fast enough, you might be able to get it before it reaches orbit,” Crosswind told them.

Without so much as a second thought, Eva throttled up and climbed straight into the sky, following the satellite. “I’m on it!” she assured the others.

She fired two standard missiles, but they weren’t at the right angle and ended up missing. Eva felt the air getting thinner as she climbed higher into the sky, but all the same, she didn’t break off. She kept her finger ready to fire machine guns as she got closer to the satellite. Her breathing got heavier, but she finally got within gun range and held down the trigger. She landed a few hits but quickly realized that she didn’t have much longer to take it out. Finally, Eva fired off another two standard missiles and broke off. She only nearly avoided the explosion as she dove back down to the ground.

“Nice going, Castor 6,” Crosswind praised her. “Erusean satellite confirmed down.”

“Good shit, Diamond,” Neutron chimed in. “I was starting to get a little nervous.”

“Ah, Diamond usually comes in clutch at the last minute, so I was only _slightly_ nervous,” Slipstream teased her.

“Hang on, I’ve got an incoming transmission from Rogue Squadron, but it’s really patchy,” Crosswind told them. “Gimme a second, and I’ll try and clear it up.”

The voice started as nothing but static at first, but slowly, Vortex’s voice became clearer and more audible until the words he was saying were crystal clear. “Crosswind, this is Rogue 1. We’re pulling out of the AO now. Hope you guys are done over there,” he reported.

Crosswind chuckled. “You’ve got some nice timing, Rogue 1. We just finished. Let’s link up and head back together.”


End file.
